Andromeda Jackson
by Highlights123
Summary: So, this is the story of Andromeda Jackson. A troubled kid who has no idea what is in store for her. She is walking through Central Park with Nico DiAngelo when these two teenagers waltz into her life, or more like chase themselves. Andy (that's what she likes people to call her) discovers she is not a normal girl. Rated T for mild violence in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I didn't think my day could get any worse. I was wrong. It all started while I was walking through Central Park with my friend Nico. Well, he wasn't exactly my friend anymore... Nico had shaggy black hair and is normally extremely pale. Today he seemed really tired. Anyways, we were holding hands and walking through the park when someone called Nico's name.  
A girl, who was really pretty was running up to us. She had blond hair and gray eyes. A boy was running after her. He was tall and tan. They seemed to be laughing and joking around, if I had to guess I'd say they were 16 or 17 years old, maybe older. The boy had dark hair and sea green eyes. Just like me. Okay that was kinda freaky...  
The girl looked back and forth between me and Nico and smiled.  
"Nico's got a girlfriend!" She said this in a sing song voice so she obviously was teasing him. These people were obviously close to Nico and an important part of his life so I decided to introduce myself. Before I had the opportunity the boy caught up to us he wrapped his arms around the other girl's waist and kissed her on the cheek.  
"I win." He laughed then turned to Nico and I, "Who is this?"  
I shook his hand and replied, "I'm Andromeda but I prefer to be called Andy." They both burst out laughing. I must have had a confused look on my face because the girl composed herself long enough to explain.  
"Sorry, my name's Annabeth and this is Percy, short for Perseus." That's when I started laughing. I noticed Nico wasn't laughing. I was able to stop laughing and asked, "Nico, don't you think that's funny?"  
"Yeah, I've laughed enough about it though that I can compose myself." and that's when he started laughing too. Then I thought, how do these people know Nico? Nico started speaking to Percy with a changed tone.  
"She's a half-blood. Really powerful. She goes to my school that's how we met." Half-blood, what was that?  
I was hurt. I knew both my parents were half Greek but I never had told Nico this. "Nico, how did you know that I was half Greek. I've never told anyone that in my life." His eyes widened.  
"Did you understand everything I just said?" I nodded. "See Percy I told you she was powerful. She can understand Ancient Greek without even trying. We have to get her to camp." Just then, I heard a loud roar. Nico cursed which was totally like him and Percy took a pen out of his pocket. I turned around and I found I was staring in the face of a big lion.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok, I am sorry about Chapter 1 that wasn't exactly my best work and I was kind of nervous, so here is my second chapter, and I do admit that the ending of Chapter 1 was really odd. Despite what you may think I have going on in my brain, I assure you I am not completely insane.**

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan the senior scribe of camp half blood. Frankly, I'm a daughter of Athena who likes to write. My friend Grover has been translating this for me and I apologize for any spelling mistakes and stuff like that. I do however happen to be a younger half-blood and ask that if you review my work, please no fowl language.**

Chapter 2

The lion was huge. Well compared to me. I guess it was a normal sized lion, but it was big. I stood as still as possible, waiting for the lion to pounce. It simply lifted its paw and held it up. I could see a few cuts and then I saw the giant thorn stuck in its paw.  
I carefully approached it and reached out to its paw. I felt its battered paw. The lion seemed to be in pain more than anything else and I grasped the giant thorn. I tried to pull it out as gently as I could. The lion was relived and gave a loud roar. Suddenly, it's eyes narrowed. I looked behind me and saw two snake women sneaking up behind the other three as they watched me amazed. Then, the lion jumped over me and charged them. As soon as they met the lion's claws they disintegrated. The lion turned, and gave me a... I guess you could say he bowed to me, then ran off into the woods. The other three just stared at me in stunned silence. I couldn't believe that had just happened.  
Nico looked calm though. He simply said, "powerful." Percy and Annabeth nodded in agreement.  
Annabeth snapped out of shock before Percy did and said, "We have to get her to camp, like, NOW!" That confused me. Nico told me about this summer camp that he went to and that he wanted me to come next summer. It was almost summer though.  
"Okay, I'll come to this camp of yours, but only if you explain what just happened." They nodded in silent agreement.  
"Just not now we have to run," I looked behind me and saw the other two snake women coming from behind us and I probably made a good choice by deciding to follow them.  
"Stefie, O Harma Diaboles,". Annabeth yelled and threw a coin into the street. I somehow knew she had said, Stop, Chariot of Damnation. That didn't sound good. Suddenly, a gray taxi cab pulled up to the side of the road.  
"Take her to camp I'll meet you guys there," said Nico. That was crazy, there was no way he could hold off those snake women.  
"Nico, I'm not going to leave you here!" I screamed. Annabeth was trying to pull me into the taxi now but I stood my ground.  
"I'll be there before you are." He said calmly and he disappeared into shadows. Annabeth managed to pull me into the taxi and I felt sad and alone.  
"He's not gone. He's just at camp. Nico has a special ability, to do something we call shadow traveling. You'll see when we get to camp, he'll be there." Annabeth's tone was reassuring.  
I noticed Percy was in the cab when he asked, "Do you know who you are?"  
"Yeah, I'm Andromeda Marie Jackson. I was born in the year 1999 and I'm an..." I couldn't bear to say it. I was an orphan. My parents both died in a car crash.  
Annabeth asked, "Are you an orphan?" And all I could bring mysel to do was just nod. Percy and Annabeth just looked at each other as we drove by buildings. Then I noticed we were going freaky fast.  
"How fast are we going?" I asked the driver, or should I say drivers.  
"How should I know Andy, that is what you like to be called right? Anger has the eye." The old ladies who were driving turned back and looked at me through empty eye sockets. They had one tooth, but I have to admit the strangest thing was the one eye they seemed to share.  
"Daughter of Athena, why is HE in this cab I thought he vowed never to take this cab again, after last time." Last time?  
Annabeth responded, "Percy didn't swear it on the river Styx did he? Plus we were in a hurry otherwise I'm sure he would have rather swam." One of the old ladies snapped her fingers and Percy either fell asleep or got knocked out because he wasn't moving.  
"Speaking of swimming..." Anger said, "we are going to take a little short cut so hold on!" Annabeth took in a deep breath and while I was still confused, the cab flew off the pier and we were encased in a tomb of water. I held my breath for as long as I could and before I blacked out I took in a deep lungfull of water. I was surprised to find I could breath normally. Then, I noticed my clothes were dry. Annabeth had blacked out. Percy suddenly opened his eyes and looked between me and Annabeth. I thought, it wasn't me the stupid drivers. Then Percy nodded and grabbed Annabeth's face.  
It seemed as if he were extending a shield of air around her. What was going on? Then I heard a voice in my head, I'm making an air bubble, help me, concentrate on air. I did as the voice told me and Percy grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him and Annabeth. As soon as the taxi hit the water it vanished, so I was a little ways away from them now. I closed my eyes and and felt a tug in my gut.  
With a shock I realised I was in a bubble of air with Percy and Annabeth. "Annabeth, come on Wise Girl, Wake up!" Percy was shouting at the unconscious figure of Annabeth. She was still for a few minutes and I thought she was dead. Then, she coughed. Percy hugged her so tight I thought he was going to kill her.  
"Don't ever do that to me again!" He sounded almost scared for his life.  
"Now you know how I feel sometimes," Annabeth chuckled weakly. She sounded raspy though, like she had water in her lungs.  
"We have to get you to a hospital," I said. _That won't be necessary,_ said the voice in my head. Percy chuckled and then he put his hand over Annabeth's chest and closed his eyes. She spit up some water and Percy turned pale. I got up to help them, but stumbled back and fell out of the bubble. Percy put his hand out to help me back to the bubble. The voice said, _take my hand._ With a shock I realised that Percy was talking to me. I wanted to jump out of my skin, and I shot up through the water like a torpedo.  
The bubble followed me back up to the surface and popped as soon as we hit the surface. I saw we were close to the beach so I climbed out of the water and discovers I was completely dry. Percy walked to the shore carrying Annabeth. He was also completely dry and so was Annabeth.  
"Have a seat Andy. I need to ask you a few questions." I sat down because I got the feeling that he wasn't going to hurt me, at least not yet.


	3. Chapter 3

**So this is my 3rd chapter. Sorry about all the paragraphing errors and stuff, my computer was just copying it weird.**

**Disclaimer: My friend Grover said to tell you again, I am not senior scribe for camp half blood, I'm just a demigod who really likes to write about my friend's adventures.**

Chapter 3

Percy told me a lot. He said that I was the child of some Ancient Greek god or goddess, he said that I may also be a child of 2 demigod, what ever that was, but he doubted it because apparently, "I am powerful." I was getting sick of hearing people say that about me. He grabbed Annabeth carefully because she had passed out in the middle of his speech. He gestured for me to follow him.  
Suddenly a guy came up to us, "Percy! What happened? Is she...?" He was a shorter guy, with the kind of smile that made you want to check for your wallet.  
"Connor, shut up she's just asleep. I mean she did nearly drown today but she's fine." Connor's eyes widened when Percy said the word drown. He looked thoroughly confused.  
"Well Percy, you'd better take Annabeth to the infirmary and who is this?" He asked, referring to me in a flirtatious voice.  
I responded, "A girl who isn't interested because you are way to old for her and has a boyfriend to so shove off." I was kinda angry at him because he should have known that he was, like, 2-3 years older than me.  
He looked stunned, "Woah, I know an angry Aphrodite chick when I see one so bye, you may want to talk to Piper about her."  
"Dude," Percy said, "She isn't an Aphrodite chick. I think Andy here is my... Never mind." We walked up a hill and passed a lot of weird buildings. I saw one that was kind of like a low bunker, and another one that looked like a workshop for inventors. Those were my favorite ones.  
We headed over to the workshop like one and Percy knocked on the door with his foot. "Who... oh Percy come on in. Set her down on her bunk." This guy looked almost exactly like Annabeth, but older and in boy form. This seemed to be routine for them, so I wondered how many other times this has happened.  
"What did you do to her this time Percy?" The older guy asked. Percy blushed.  
"We went for a walk in central park and met up with Nico and Andromeda here." He was... oh my gosh, he was embarrassed about interrupting our date.  
I piped up, "Met up with? You pretty much ruined our date." I had exploded. We were supposed to have the perfect day and these two teenagers popped in and basically brought me here and Nico was still missing, wow I had almost forgotten about Nico. "Speaking of which, Where is he?" I demanded.  
"He's by his cabin, number 13," and with that I rushed out of the room.  
I felt a cold breeze behind me and someone grabbed my shoulders and said, "Hey you new at camp?" In a gruff voice I had come to expect from bullies, but this was a girl's voice so I was confused. I turned and saw the most buff girl in the world.  
**_(Line Break)_**  
Apparently, I wasn't supposed to be alone at camp so Percy ran after me and I was glad he did. Then I turned and saw Nico running up to me from the side. This girl looked like she wanted to pummel me. I ran straight to Nico. I didn't want to face this kid alone. I was fast, but the girl was faster. She caught up to me and put me in a head lock. Nico and Percy had both reached us.  
"Clarisse, Buzz off," said Nico. I was happy he was standing up to her for me, but there was no way he could stand up to this girl.  
"What's it matter to you, why do you care so much about this puny girl,Death Boy," she sneered. I hated it when people called Nico names. They always said that he looked like death, but I didn't care.  
"That 'puny girl' happens to be my girlfriend." I liked that, but the girl's grip tightened. Then she shoved Nico aside and started dragging me to, what I guessed were the bathrooms.  
Percy ran in front of Clarisse and she stopped in her tracks. "What do you want, Jackson?" I must have gasped louder than I thought because that was my last name.  
"Let her go unless you want to get soaked again." Clarisse just laughed.  
"Last time I checked Jackson, you're not allowed to come into the girl's bathrooms." Now, Percy chuckled.  
"Not by me dear Clarisse, not by me." She let go of me. Her eyes were wide with disbelief.  
"You mean she's your..." she was shocked, "bye, take her to Chiron, like NOW!"  
I was confused. "I'm your what?" He looked at the ocean.  
"I think you're my sister."


	4. Chapter 4

**Ok I thought that I had fixed the paragraph thing, yeah that didn't work out too well, sorry. I hope I don't cause any inconvenience I'll just put 2 lines in between all the paragraphs in the future. So here is chapter 4 hope you enjoy reading more about Andy and her adventure.**

Chapter 4

"What kind of sister? Like full sister or half sister?" I asked.  
"I'm not sure yet, I have to ask my mom but I think at least a half sister." I was weirded out. He lead me to a big blue house by the forest. On the porch was the oddest assortment of people I had ever seen. I saw a man who was wearing a striped beach shirt, a guy who looked like a surfer but had a ton of eyes all over his body, and the oddest was a guy who was normal on top but from the waist down he was a horse.  
I felt compelled to introduce myself. I started to say, "Hi, my name is-"  
I was interrupted by the man in the striped shirt, "Androneda, yes we know, the new br- I mean camper."  
The horse man said, "Hello, Andromeda Jackson, you're fortunate to have met our good Nico. He has spoken highly of you. I hope that this isn't an intrusive question for you, but, which parent did you grow up with?" I felt like a torpedo had slammed into me.  
"I'm an orphan sir. My father left before I was born and my mother was killed in a car accident along with my older brother..." I trailed off, leaving it at that. I never remembered them I was told that soon after I was born my mom and brother and I were all in a car crash and I was the only survivor.  
"I am sorry I asked. I am Chiron. If I may know, how old were you and how long ago was this?" It happened when I was a few months old. It took took people a few days to recognize me, so I was separated from my family, it took me years to find they had died in the car crash.  
"It happened when I was very small, only a few months old. My brother was three at the time, by now he may be 17 or 18 years old." Perry's eyes widened. I had originally thought he was about 17, now he looked younger, in an oblivious kind of way.  
"Um... just, when would this brother of your 's birthday happen to be?" Percy was asking in a tentative tone and I realised what he was thinking.  
"Well, when is your birthday?" I asked.  
"August 18th." I must have gasped louder than I thought. They just stared at me. I felt like I was going to start balling my eyes out. I felt someone put their arms around me. It was Nico. I hadn't even noticed he was there.  
I broke out of Nico's arms and walked up to Percy, "I thought you were dead. I only knew your birthday. They wouldn't even tell me your name." I felt relieved and defiant. I walked up to Percy and hugged him. I pulled away then I punched him. It probably hurt me more than it hurt him, but it felt good.  
"You knew who I was since we met didn't you?" I was half shouting and half crying.  
Percy replied, "to be honest I had no idea, I thought it was a strange coincidence at first, but in the demigod world there are no coincidences."  
I felt myself shaking.  
"Oh, _**please **_don't start with the sappy stuff. I really hate it when you mortals do that." I hadn't thought that the other men were watching us until the man who was wearing the striped shirt piped up. Just then a conch shell blew. I had no idea how I knew this but I did.  
"Dinnertime," Percy said, "you can sit with me, since you are my sister."  
"Perseus, she hasn't been claimed yet, but I agree, we shall let her sit with you at the Poseidon table. Now, go." Chiron's expression was kind but I could tell he was concerned of what the other campers may think.  
As we walked to dinner I saw a few glances in our direction, but they quickly turned away. Percy lead me to the dining pavilion and I followed him to his table. I sat down next to him, and suddenly people erupted in murmurs. I heard bits and pieces of conversations through out the pavilion.  
"What?" I yelled, "What is your problem? I can't sit with my brother!" I realized what I said and blushed. "I know all about your stupid rules. Chiron gave me permission to sit here." I sat back down. Percy stared at me.  
"Well, you're quite persuasive." Just then, Annabeth walked up to the table, but didn't sit down.  
"Sorry, about the others, Percy, Tyson, and Grover are normally the only ones who ever sit here." I was confused.  
"Who are Grover and Tyson?" He and Annabeth just chuckled.  
"Tyson is our brother. Grover is... right there." He pointed to a guy who was about 16 and he looked normal, from the waist up. From the waist down, the guy was half goat.  
"A saytr!" I exclaimed. I had read about them from all the ancient Greek mythology I was fascinated with. Of course, reading was hard with my ADHD and dyslexia, but I struggled through it.  
"Not just any saytr, I am Grover Underwood, a member of the council of cloven elders," the goat-dude said. I composed myself long enough until he walked passed us and I started smiling like crazy. I must have snickered a couple times because it seemed contagious, Annabeth and Percy burst out laughing.  
"I have to go, bye. I'll see you tomorrow morning. Percy, if you hit one of my campers again I will personally strangle you. Andy, I think that you are supposed to be in the Hermes cabin tonight but you have Percy's schedule tomorrow so I'll see you for archery, Percy is instructing you and the Athena cabin in sword play, and I think that you are on our team for capture the flag this Friday night." She winked at Percy and walked over to a table full of people who looked like her.  
"What's capture the flag?" I asked. I honestly had no idea.  
"You'll see," is all he said. Just then the goat dude walked up to the table and sat down.  
"So, whose the girl?" He asked Percy.  
"The girl, has a name," I replied for him, "My name is Andromeda, but I prefer to be called Andy. Why isn't Nico at dinner?" Grover looked confused.  
"Why do you care so much about death boy?" He was just teasing me but I had heard Nico been called enough names that weren't friendly, so I decided to freak this guy out.  
"Well, Mr. MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF CLOVEN ELDERS, Death Boy's name is Nico! And he just so happens to be my boyfriend so back off!" I was speaking with a fiercer tone and that scared the tin cans out of him. Literally, he tried to get up so fast, a ton of aluminium cans poured out of his pockets.  
I started laughing. Percy joined in and Grover realised that I was messing with him and he cracked up too.  
"Alright brats, welcome to a new summer, blah, blah, blah, oh, and yes we have a new camper today: Andromeda Jackson." Just then, a green light washed offer the campers. I looked up and saw a faint green trident over my head.  
"Ok, we now have _another _child of the sea God. It appears you'll be staying with your brother Perry for the rest of your time here. Have a nice summer, goodbye." Percy smiled at me, then grabbed his dinner plate and walked up to the fireplace. I followed him and scraped a portion of my meal into the fire. _Thanks dad_, I thought silently.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

If I thought I was going to get a good night's sleep, I was wrong. To start things off, about an hour or 2 after curfew, Annabeth came in. I had wondered why Percy had kept the lights on this entire time and now I knew, he was waiting for Annabeth. It seemed perfectly normal to them which really freaked me out.  
"Look Andy, the thing is," they had told me, "last summer, we fell into, um... the big pit in the under world." Percy had explained to me that it was really a bad idea to say names, that it invited a shadow of something's presence to wherever you are.  
"We can't sleep at night when we aren't near each other." Annabeth was explaining to me why they had done this every night since they had come back to camp.  
"Well, it's more of we can hardly sleep anyways without waking up in a screaming fit. We just calm each other down way faster than if say Grover were to calm me and Malcom were to calm Annabeth. So, how heavy of a sleeper are you? I'm sorry I don't have any earplugs tonight because I had no idea you would be here tonight. I really am sorry for the small amount of sleep you will get tonight." I thought it was sweet and odd in the same way.  
I replied, "Nah, I've slept through that kind of stuff before at orphanages so you should be good."  
"You have never heard Annabeth scream then." She blushed fiercely.  
The next words that came out of Percy's mouth were 'lights out' and the room turned dark. I fell asleep quickly, which was a miracle considering all I had been through that day, then again, I was exhausted.  
**(Line Break)**  
I woke up to the scream of Annabeth. It was shrill and full of terror. Percy scrambled to her and wrapped his arms around her and spoke to her with a soothing voice.  
"I was back Percy, In the pit." She was scared out of her mind, "it was when we ran into Ma." He kept hugging he like she was the most important part of his life. They must have loved each other an awful lot.  
"Its ok Annabeth, you're safe now." He was hugging and rocking her in his arms. They looked so sweet together, like she was a little kid who had a nightmare that a monster lived under her bed. I got up and walked over to Annabeth.  
"You're not there anymore, you are here, at camp." She took in a deep breath and nodded as soon as I said that. Percy was concentrated on Annabeth. His eyebrows scrunched together, like he was scared if he let go of her, she wouldn't be there anymore.  
"Percy?" I asked. "Are you going to be okay?" He just nodded and sat there staring at Annabeth, soaking in her presence. After a few minutes of this, I put my hand on his shoulder and told him that we had to sleep. He still seemed dazed.  
He kept soaking in her image as if he thought it was something he would never see again. I had a sudden thought, "Percy, what did _you_ dream about?" He stared at me blankly, as if he had no clue what I was talking about.  
I thought he was going to turn back to Annabeth, when he simply said, "Death." I understood. There must have been plenty of times when they were stranded in Tartarus, that he and Annabeth had near death experiences. I nodded and he finally broke out of his trance. Now I knew what he meant when he said he was sorry. Seeing Percy and Annabeth like this, was almost torture. I hated people feeling bad, they always had someway of bringing me down.  
"You two love each other a lot, don't you?" They just nodded. It was hard to look in their eyes because they were filled with fear. I had the distinct impression I was going to have to pry them apart if I needed them to part, but Percy got up and went back to his bunk and fell asleep in seconds. Annabeth crawled back into her bunk and sat there staring at the one above her.  
"He is just getting used to you." I was surprised to hear Annabeth speak, "He thinks its cool that he has a sister, but he is also worried that you wont get along." Percy had seemed a little uncomfortable around me, just like I was uncomfortable around him.  
"I know," I replied. I must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing I knew it was morning.  
**(Another Line Break, I know it's creepy and weird)**  
"Rise and shine, Andy." I woke up to Annabeth shaking me. "Man, you sleep almost as bad as Percy does." She pointed to Percy, who was on the floor covered in sheets. I started to laugh. If there was anything funnier than my brother laying on the floor, drooling and covered in sheets, my brain couldn't seem to find it.  
I got up and grabbed a cup full of cold water, "Watch this," I told Annabeth.  
I headed over to Percy and said, "You'd better get up right now." I was warning him. He mumbled something like 'five more minutes' and just laid there. I took the cup of water and held it over his head. Annabeth was giggling in the corner. I dumped the water straight on him and willed it to soak the sand colored carpet and freeze. It responded. I was amazed as the water penetrated the carpet and frost started to form around Percy's face. He must have felt the chill of the ice, because as soon as he had fallen asleep, he was standing up and reaching for his sword in his pocket, only to realize he was wearing pajamas, not jeans. Annabeth and I were almost rolling on the frost covered floor in laughter. Percy was covered in frost.  
When we walked out of the cabin for breakfast, Annabeth ran ahead to her cabin. Percy still had frost in his hair and looked like he was melting. I had a wide beam on my face that must have made me seem really happy, which I was.  
"Hey Andy," Connor said. "What happened to Percy?" He was laughing. There was another guy with him who looked almost exactly like him and was cracking up too.  
"He wouldn't wake up," I said innocently. This made them laugh even more as a devilish smile flickered across my face. We had reached the pavilion and I walked happily over to the Poseidon table as Percy trudged after me, shivering. Everybody was watching him. Either they were amazed he had frost in his hair, or amazed he was up so early, probably both.  
Chiron trotted over to us and asked, "Percy, what happened?" He sounded worried.  
"I had to wake him up somehow..." I responded for Percy because his teeth were chattering. Amusement played across Chiron's face. The white stallion probably knew what I did.  
Percy had stopped chattering and said, "you didn't have to freeze me on my first day of being an older brother." I shrugged off the comment. I felt bad enough about doing it after I saw how cold he was. Annabeth came up behind us and ran her hand through Percy's hair, shaking frost all over me. We all laughed. More frost just reappeared in Percy's hair. Ok that was weird.  
"Percy, does my method of waking you up bother you?" I kept playing innocent, nobody knew what I did except for Annabeth, Percy, and I. Everyone else probably assumed I got a lot of ice shavings and dumped it on Percy. We ate our breakfast quickly and headed to the climbing wall.


	6. Chapter 6

**So, today was a really sucky day for me, so I apoligize for using the word suck a lot. There was a bog and I got stuck up to my thighs in mud and it took 4 people to get me out, I feel about 3 inches taller, and I took 3 dives after the stupid bog. My only friend who is a girl and likes Percy Jackson was joking around saying I got stuck in muskeg and I realized how stupid I must have looked while stuck there. My friend, my teacher, and 2 of the class clowns had to work together to get me out and I feel really crappy but hyper so I felt like writing up the rest of the chapter. I hope you enjoy!**

**Me: Ok, I own everything about this story!**

**Nico: No you don't! You don't own me! Nobody owns me, I'm a real boy!**

**Me: Dude, your a fictional character, how are you talking to me?**

**Nico: Only uncle Rick owns us, well you own Andy, Shannon, and Lisa, oh yeah the plot too, but I'm the freaking son of Hades and I can do whatever I want!**

**Me: Okay then...**

Chapter 6

After breakfast, Percy said we were scheduled for the climbing wall. I love rock climbing. When we approached the wall, I might have made some intelligent comment like, 'Well, that looks easy,' but thought better of it. The wall was one environmental issue after another. There was lava, flaming rocks, earthquakes, and the wall was changing constantly. From the distance, I saw a small dark shape fall from about midway up. We kept advancing. I saw the small figure get up and take a swig of something from a water bottle. He started climbing again. As we approached the base of the wall, he had come back down. He had blond hair and electric blue eyes, maybe 2 or 3 years older than I was.

"Hey Percy, who's you're friend? Annabeth wouldn't like to know anything about this now, would she?" He was just teasing Percy, it was obvious by his tone. I hadn't seen him at breakfast or at dinner, and I wanted to know who he was too.

"Your brain really must be fried. Jason, Andy. Andy, Jason. So, he is a son of Jupiter, lord of the skies. Jason's roman. We actually have really similar stories." Percy was anxious for me to meet his friend. I could tell his friend was curious about me. Wait a minute, similar stories?

"Huh?" Jason and I said at the same time. Just then, 2 girls came down. One was totally punked out but had a silver circlet over her head that made her look like a punk princess and the other was absolutely gorgeous. She had long chocolate hair and eyes that seemed to change color.

The punked out princess girl shouted, "What's up little bro?" The boys chuckled, like it was some inside joke.

Jason shouted back, "Nothing much except for the fact that my LITTLE sister just called me younger because I am officially older than you. Unless you forgot that you never turned 16." After that, Jason let out a maniacal laughter that just mad him seem that much more mature (note the sarcasm oozing from my words). As the girls got closer, I could see a scowl etched onto the girl's face. The other, had on a brilliant smile and was walking briskly as the princess of punk trudged along beside her.

"I assume that either A: you are the Princess of Punk," with that I curtsied and continued, "or B: judging by the fact that your circlet is silver, I'd say, 2nd in command to... Artemis?" I wasn't sure about that last part, but the girl nodded and held out her hand.

She introduced herself, "Thalia Grace, Lightning Boy's older sister, and congrats, you're the first person I've ever met that actually got it right on the 1st or 2nd try. Well, I hope you were being sarcastic about the princess thing, I hate being called that. Do you know anybody besides Kelp Head and Lightning Boy?" I was about to answer her when someone grabbed me from behind. It was Nico.

"Hey, what should I call you now?" he inquired. I just laughed at him.

Thalia let a scowl flash across her face before saying, "I see you already know some people." She then, addressed Nico with a scowl, "I almost had another hunter there! Whatevs Death Breath, but he's right. Whatever shall we call you?"

I thought for a second before answering, "I don't know. My dad is Poseidon." Shock flashed her face as the news registered. The other girl still hadn't said anything because she was behind me, sucking face with Jason. I held up my finger and counted to 3, they understood the message.

On 3, all four of us yelled, "Get a Room!" They finally broke apart, faces red of embarrassment.

The girl said, "You didn't see any of that," and I felt like puking. I felt a roll of... I don't know how to explain it, but it was like sickeningly sweet words.

"What is that?" I asked and shock almost passed along the girl's face.

"What?" asked Nico, "Piper, did you just try to charmspeak us?" His voice was steely calm. It made me scared. She nodded and gulped then took off running. Jason ran after her and grabbed her by the waist. As he dragged her back, they were laughing and a scene from yesterday flashed into my head of when I met Percy and Annabeth.

I guess I started giggling because soon, I was laughing nonstop. "Ok, I did try to charmspeak you guys, but for Thalia and the little girl's sake who obviously likes Nico who likes her back. Wait a sec, are you guys dating? Oh, sorry sometimes I just say whatever pops into my head, you don't have to answer that, Percy is really protective about his friends and family. Nico is like our little brother, who happens to be what, at least 70 years older than us. I'm gonna shut up now cuz I am really hyper. Leo gave me some Mountain Dew!" I started to laugh some more. The girl, whose name I guess was Piper, said all that without breathing.

Jason's face paled, "You guys had Mountain Dew? Sorry Percy, I better go and stop Leo from blowing up the camp with a rubber band. He tried to explain to me how its done yesterday but, I fell asleep." Just then, a girl came into view up on the top of the hill. She had blond hair and was covered in grime and dirt. An expression of fear was plastered on her face.

"Camper!" Nico whispered and ran towards the girl. I was sure he wouldn't get there in time. I ran as fast as I could. Somewhere, I ended up passing Nico and in no time at all I was standing by the girl's side. I didn't have any weapons or anything, so I tried to get the girl across the camp border. Nico came up the side of the hill, sword drawn, ready to disintegrate the monster. Wow, this was an eventful day and I only woke up about an hour ago. The monster's attention turned towards Nico, I had no idea what it was. She looked downright ugly. The thing was like a vampire but with one leg bronze or something and the other was like a donkey hindquarter. As Nico was running, he took one look at the monster and froze, with the dreamiest expression I had ever seen on his face. The monster was approaching him and I started to panic. I felt an intense pain in my stomach. The next thing I saw was the monster drowning and everyone else was wet, even Percy, then, I blacked out.

* * *

**Shannon's Point of View** (I just like the name ok)

I was being chased by this crazy lady, who was saying random things that made no sense at all, when a girl came barreling towards me. She was a really fast runner. The girl tried to pull me towards the hill, I somehow knew it would be safe if I went with her. A boy who was, like, completely emo or goth or something, I don't know, he was dressed all in black and was really pale, came running towards the lady chasing me. He was holding something. At first it looked like a pure black stick of energy, but then I realized, it was a sword. Woah, a sword? The guy was hot, but the sword kind of freaked me out. Then he looked at the monster and froze. He had a dazed expression on his face and just stood there, as the lady was coming towards him, probably murmuring something about death. I hadn't realized the girl was still trying to pull me along as I watched the scene. She doubled over in pain and I quickly wondered what happened, when a huge wave of water roared onto the side of the hill.

When my vision cleared, the monster wasn't there anymore. The girl was laying there, sprawled out in the wet grass, but she was completely dry. I could see the boy leaning over her, murmuring words in another language. It sounded like a dead language, because I, for some reason, can understand any language I hear, except for dead languages, those take a little work to understand.

Another guy came over the hill and when he saw the girl lying there he paled, which was kind of weird looking because of his tan skin. He was like an older copy of the girl, but in boy form. The guy came over with a water bottle and knelt down next to the emo dude. The older guy tilted the water bottle to her mouth, but it wasn't water, the liquid was golden. She snapped her eyes open almost instantly. When ahe sat up, emo dude gave her a bone crushing hug. Aww, he was pretty cute, oh well.

"Andy, I may have known you for less than 24 hours but you are still my sister and I will not have you dying on me. Nico would be able to see you, but I wouldn't, so please don't die." The boy was still hugging her fiercely as the older guy was saying this. She was really pretty, however, she seemed only about 14. I was 15 almost 16, sometimes I wished I was older so I could get into the more advanced classes at school. Some of those problems are an insult to my intelligence even with my dyslexia.

As I was thinking, the girl's voice dragged me out of my daze, "Nico, please get off me. I can barely breathe." He pulled out of his bear hug and I saw a blush creeping up an his face. The older guy just started laughing, as if he had never seen the guy blush before, or even show any emotion besides hate.

"Who are you people?" My call seemed to end their oddness and bring them back to reality. They got up and walked over to me. I was surprised that I said anything, normally I wouldn't say anything, but I was having a really sucky day. Wait, actually, yesterday was sucky and so was last night, I just blended the days together.

The girl stretched out her hand to me while saying, "I'm Andromeda Jackson, but if you call me that I'd have to kill you. Call me Andy, I'm the daughter of Poseidon. You probably think I'm a wacko, but thats what I thought at first, and I haven't been here even 24 hours." She said this with a big smile on her face, I trusted this girl, she seemed really nice.

The older boy stretched out his hand, "Perseus Jackson, but if you call me that, I'd have to kill you, and before you say anything, she totally stole my line. Andy is my little sister." I started giggling a little. I felt good to laugh after my sucky adventure.

The emo guy didn't offer to shake my hand or anything, he just looked really embarrassed for some reason, "I'm Nico, son of Hades." Then, the girl whipped her head around and stared at him. She pulled him to the side and started whisper yelling at him. I couldn't hear her though. They came back over and the girl, I mean, Andy, asked, "What's your name?"

I replied, "Shannon, Shannon Greene."

* * *

**So, tell me what you thought and please, no fowler language than what I have used in my story. Flames are accepted and I thank you for you honesty. I get that this chapter probably wasn't my best.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Oh my gods! Only 3 more days until House of Hades comes out! This is so exciting! I wrote this chapter last night while I went bowling (Field Trips, Peat, and Bowling Oh MY!) I was pretty distracted while writing this chapter, so if it seems a little inconsistent. Well its, istoría tou chrónou (story time)! The second part is kind of fluffy so, this is the reason I don't own, or want to own Percy Jackson, I would totally screw up the plot.**

* * *

Chapter 7 (Andromeda's POV)

Shannon was so confused, I felt really bad for her. About yesterday, I was like that. Wow, only yesterday I came to this camp. It feels like I've been here my entire life. I've gotten to know the personalities of people. I still couldn't believe Nico was the freaking son of Hades.

My thought process was ruined when Nico said, "We should get inside the border. Four half bloods attract an awful lot of monster, and the fact that 3 of us are children of Poseidon or Hades... No, we need to get to camp like now. You're still unarmed, right?" The last question was pointed at me.

"Sadly," I was kind of disappointed that they didn't trust me to have a weapon yet. Well I hadn't been trained in the slightest, so it was understandable. "Can I be trained first?" they smiled at my question.

Percy responded, "Andy Jackson, you are the only demigod I have ever met, besides the Aphrodite campers, that actually wanted to be trained, before handling a weapon of mass destruction. Well, too bad. We should get you a weapon too Shannon," I got scared.

"Shannon," Nico chimed in, "you should be claimed by the campfire tonight. I honestly don't think even the gods would break an oath on the styx. Percy, why did you choose that again?"

Percy looked a little depressed for a minute, as if remembering a bad memory, "I honestly, felt that all the half bloods who joined Crooked Dude, wouldn't have met their fate if the minor gods were appreciated." I wondered what that meant.

I remembered monsters, "Border, NOW!" I pointed and everyone started up the hill. We crossed Thalia's Pine, and headed to the big house.

Shannon was remarkably quiet until she saw Chiron, "Holy Cow! Are you Chiron, the trainer of all heroes. Sorry, I love greek mythology. My favorite myth is Eros and Psyche, such a cute couple! Sorry again, I'm just so weirded out right now, I have no idea what I'm saying." She made me start to giggle.

"Can we show her around camp Chiron?" I asked. I liked this girl, I don't know why, but she seemed like an awesome person. He just nodded.

After she had a full blown tour and we went to the rest of our daily activites, we had the campfire. This was the first one that I had been to at camp, so I was pretty excited. It turns out, Shannon was kind of like Percy. She was raised by her mother and her step-dad. He wasn't too horrible, but he blamed her for everything that went wrong. He would yell at her because of nothing and he would hit her sometimes. Normally, he tripped her over and caught her, then let her fall. I thought it was pretty bad. It was so similar to my story, but so different in the same way.

My life was pretty much like this: go through the system, stay in one place for a few months, leave. The longest I ever stayed in one place, was at the Stone residence. My best friend was a guy named Walt. He had to go to the hospital a lot though and I still don't know why. So, my life pretty much sucked, like most demigods.

At the campfire, we sang a ton of songs an had an awesome time. Shannon, Percy and I all sat by the oracle Rachel. She was pretty cool, until she stood up and started spewing weird words and all.

"You shall journey to the deadest land

With the thief, the ghost king, and the dam

To a land without love, or a single wise thought

The wisest and the loving will save you of all

You will find the lost and expose the traitor

And soon all will know whom is greater"

Ok, that was creepy. Suddenly, Shannon stood up. A pink light washed over the crowd. The blazing symbol above her head, was that of a pink bow and arrow. Shannon pretty much, had a complete makeover. She had on fresh clothes and she looked gorgeous. Shannon was wearing a hunter green, leather jacket and black, lace-up combat boots. Underneath the jacket, she had a pink blouse and she was wearing skinny jeans that fit her perfectly. There was also, a bow on her shoulder. She had a quiver of arrows that were pink. Wow, her hair was done in loose curls and fanned out and her glasses were gone. Everything really outlined her big, deep brown eyes. She really looked stunning.

Chiron was the first to speak, "All hail, Shannon Greene, Daughter of Eros, the god of love." She looked confused.

"Cupid? Like, the toddler dude who goes around shooting arrows into people's butts?" This caused some snickers in in the group. It was kind of funny, thinking your dad is a toddler.

"Seriously, is this some kind of joke?" She was honestly freaking out. From behind us, a man came up to us.

"No, this is not a joke Shannon." The man was beautiful. Not masculine or handsome, beautiful. "You, Mr. Di Angelo and Andromeda have been chosen by me personally, to go on a quest. When you meet the 4th member of your quest, I appear to you and tell you what it is. That was the prophecy."

A women appeared behind him saying, "Why Eros? Come, you must not spend anymore time with your child." The woman was the most beautiful person I'd ever seen. Her appearance seemed to shift, getting more beautiful by the second. When they left in a flash of light, the camp was in stunned silence.

For the next few days, everything went smoothly. I met up with Shannon and we did pretty much everything together. She was amazing at archery. She didn't wear her glasses anymore and she wore the jacket all the time. It suited her. Somehow, I could never mess up her hair. She liked teasing me about it. Notice I said she was amazing at archery. I wasn't horrible, not as bad as Percy, but I haven't gotten a bulls eye yet. I never missed the target though. Percy sucked. He would aim for a target and hit a tree off to the side. The dryad chased him for a while, as Shannon and I were laughing our butts off. I still hadn't gotten a weapon yet. I was pretty mediocre at everything, but Percy refused to give either of us a sword fighting lesson yet. We had an awesome time.

* * *

On June 21, I had a blast. Not just because it was the summer solstice. I was finally 15. I was no longer the, "fourteen year old," I finally was old enough to go to the beach on my own. Of course that didn't stop me before, but now I could go whenever I wanted. I hadn't told anyone it was my birthday, but Nico knew. After breakfast, I went down to the beach. I saw Nico jogging over and he sat next to me. We sat in a comfortable silence for a little while, just looking at the waves. I put my head on his shoulder and we just started talking about random stuff, how many strawberries we thought we could eat, ect... ect... Then, Nico got up and told me to follow him.

"Why?" I smirked.

He gave me a little smile and I knew he was hiding something. "You'll see," and with that, he took off towards the woods. I quickly caught up to him and I saw he was laughing.

"What's so funny?" He stopped as I asked. We were in the woods now.

"Nothing, I just really, really like spending time with you. Now, did you want a weapon, or shall you forever go on drowning emposa?" He was really close to me now. This was closer than we'd ever been before. Even though we'be been dating for over 3 months, we've never kissed or anything. I got the feeling someone was watching us, waiting for us to kiss or something. I turned and someone shouted, "Oh Come On!" Nico and I started laughing. The voice belonged to Shannon.

She came out of the bushes with Piper. They had disappointed looks on thier faces, they probably expected us to kiss or something.

"Oh, you don't have any other weapons besides your bow either, right?" Nico was inviting them to come with us. Smart move.

"Sure, Piper and I can come with you." Shannon was acting weirdly. Wait a sec, Piper and Shannon, the 2 head counselors for the god and goddess of love's cabins, oh gods, this is going to be a long day.


	8. Chapter 8

**So, I don't own PJO or MLP and have you noticed that most of my chapters end with introductions?**

Chapter 8

All four of us headed into the armory. On the outside, it looked like an old gardening shed. The armory was beautiful in a cruel way. There were trophies on the wall and weapons of every sort littering the floor. Immediately, something caught my eye. It was a set of throwing knives. I picked one up and it felt like it was almost made for me. The knife felt perfect. I wanted to test it out.

"Stand back," I said. They all backed off. I aimed for the crack in the wall that I shouldn't have been able to see but did. When I threw the knife it felt natural. It embedded itself into the wall. I could barely see the hilt of the knife. I tried to pull it out of the wall but couldn't.

"Can I have some help?" I asked because that thing wasn't coming out anytime soon.

"Sure..." Nico replied reluctantly. "How in Hades did you get this knife in so... far!" On far, he pulled out the knife and stumbled back. "We still need something for you two to use during sword fighting though. How about this one for you Shannon?" He handed her a bronze short sword. She said the name etched into it was desire. That it was the name of her step-mom, Psyche. I studied the knives closer. There was an engraving on it.

"Kraken," I whispered. The blades turned into a charm bracelet. All the knives were charms. One charm was longer, and shaped differently than the rest. It looked like a sword. I studied it and thought of it in the original form. Somehow, I was holding a 3 foot long sword. Nico gingerly plucked it out of my hands and I protested, the weapon felt so right. He swung it in an arc and took a long look at it.

"Is this some kind of joke?" He asked after a long silence. "I mean seriously, Perseus, Andromeda, and you're drawn to a sword and knife set called Kraken? Next thing I know, you're gonna have a shield called medusa or something." The way he said it made me giggle. Yes, in the myths, Perseus killed medusa to rescue the beautiful princess Andromeda from being eaten by the Kraken, but this was totally different, right?

We just laughed. "Nico, its really creepy, but the weapons feel natural. So, will you give me back my sword, or do I have to chase you for it?" This caused a smile to play across his face. Piper gasped.

"Nico? Is that you or has an eildon or something taken over you again? As long as I have known you, I have never seen any emotion in your face but anger or calm." She turned to me, "Do you realize how long its taken me to actually try to get him to smile, even charmspeak won't work." I laughed again.

"That's really hard to believe. I can get a smile out of him every time," I responded.

Shannon and Piper exchanged long looks before saying together, "You guys really like each other!" Shannon continued, "I can feel the amount of affection rise whenever I'm around one of you two. Percy and Annabeth are different, they are more like, the perfect couple. They're always changing. You two, have, I guess, power, in your affection." From the expression on her face, she was completely serious, but I couldn't help but laugh. It sounded so improbable.

Percy burst in the door, "Finally, I found you all. Do you two want a sword fighting lesson or not?" We quickly followed Percy out the door. Nico came with us while Piper headed back to her cabin, probably to tell every one about "Andrico," whatever that is. Percy continued, "I put you two in with the Hermes and Hades cabins. I hope thats ok with you. Shannon, I think you can work with Travis, Andy, I'll work with you. By the way, Clarisse likes to practice about now, so watch where you go. Nico, you'll keep working on training Britt, alright?" Nico let out a little whimper that I thought was cute.

"But, so many colors! All that girl wants to do is play with 'Rainbowdash and Pinkie Pie.' Please don't torture me again. Last time," he shuddered, "I had to be Princess Luna, or whatever the heck you want to call it. Connor and Travis blackmailed me with a video of it." He made me giggle. Wow, Nico can make me laugh a lot. I need to work on that.

"Man up Nico, maybe this time she'll let you be Twilight Sprinkle, or was it Twilight Sparkle." I quickly explained to Percy that MLP was a running joke in my old school. Everyone used to joke around with it. I looked it up on wiki, but I never watched the show. When we entered the Arena, everything fell silent. Percy gestured for us to hang out with the kids who looked like they were going to pick my pocket.

Percy started the lesson, "Ok, we are going to pair up. I've already assigned you partners. Go ahead and start sparring. Travis and Shannon, if you need a little help, don't hesitate to ask. Oh, and Britt, I'm outlawing My Little Pony in the Arena."

I could have sworn I heard a small, "YES!" come from Nico, and the little girl who I assumed was Britt, just glared at him. The comment was so bizarre, I let out a small giggle, as did pretty much everyone else but Britt. Before I headed to Precy, Britt walked up to me.

"Hi, my name is Britt," she seemed innocent enough, well as innocent as a 6 year old could be who looks like she wants to gut you.

"I'm Andy." I responded. She wrinkled her nose.

"Isn't that a boy's name? Anyways, you like Nico, right?" I nodded. I didn't feel the need to tell her that he was my boyfriend just yet, I mean she was six. "Well, he's mine, so if you know whats good for you, back off. I won't stop to think about who I need to get rid of to get him to be mine." She was hilarious. Britt seemed so serious, it was almost comical.

I responded, I didn't like her attitude, "Well, sweetie," she wrinkled her nose again, "On the contrary, Nico is mine and has been for 3 months. Watch yourself, I don't have a lot of patience." I ruffled her hair and smiled. She had a pouty look on her face that made me want to puke. Percy motioned me to head over and I got my sword ready.

"On 3," Percy counted, "1... 2... 3..." I readied myself for his attack. He swung his sword to my left and I blocked. As he was bringing his blade back I lunged, careful to not let him get a good shot of my hilt, I remembered how the disarming technique was the first move he learned. He pressed me harder and I could barely think to defend myself. I let my instincts take over. Suddenly, I was on the offensive. After a little while, Percy changed tactics. He started stabbing instead of swiping, and he never slashed, just lunged. I had to switch my way of defending myself. In a way, it was easier, but at the same time, it was harder. I was aware of everything. The way Percy seemed to switch to his old style, but stayed with the current one. I switched my style too. This seemed more foreign, but it definitely worked. I was the one slashing and swiping now. I was considerably faster and lighter on my feet than Percy, so I held my ground. I felt like I had been fighting for only minutes, when Percy held up his hands and yelled, "Draw." I looked around. All the groups had stopped to watch. I felt a little hot and sweaty, and Percy looked about the same, but I wondered why everyone was staring at me.

"How in Hades did you do that?" Britt asked. The six year old had quite a mouth. I must have looked confused.

Nico walked up to me, "I think Percy was taking it a little easy on you. He's scared to hurt you, so he isn't putting all his strength into the fight. If he did you'd probably be in the infirmary. So, why don't we spar. No powers, but we can use whatever weapons we want as long as we don't kill each other. I have to use a different sword or else your very essence would be absorbed, but I have a feeling this may be a fair match." I smiled and nodded.

Percy strided over and yelled, "On 3, 1... 2..." Nico was crouched low, he seemed to almost fade into the shadows, I realized he was not a good enemy to have, "3!" Percy yelled. Our swords collided and mine spun out of my hand due to the shear force of Nico's blow. I immediately thought of the knives and one appeared in each hand. I let my instincts take over again and everything was a blur. I came back to my senses when Nico was up against the wall by the entrance to the Arena and I only had one knife in my hand, and it was up to his throat. The other was impaled in the wall near his head. Nico laughed dryly. I noticed his sword about 10 feet away, laying on the ground.

"Ok, you fight just as well as Percy does, but you did pin me up against the wall faster." I pulled the knife out of the wall and took my hand away from his throat. He was laughing almost, I could see it in his eyes.

I was mad. He didn't fight me for real. "Until next time, Di Angelo," I said that because I remembered a girl in our class who always hit on Nico. Her name was Megan and she was the snottiest, brattiest girl on the earth. I was Nico's friend long before we started going out. Megan was actually the reason we got together in the first place. She always would stand outside our homeroom and say hi to Nico in this disgustingly flirty way and I was getting sick of it. One day, she asked Nico out and he didn't know exactly how to react. He had told me plenty of times that he wished she would leave him alone, but he never told her. When she asked him out, I could see him closing up and I decided to do something about it. I grabbed his hand and said, 'Sorry, he's busy. Also, why would you even ask my boyfriend out with me standing right here?' She turned red and stalked down the hall after saying, 'Until next time Di Angelo, I will have you'. A couple minutes after she left, Nico asked, 'What was that for?' I shrugged. 'You were standing there like an idiot.' He smiled widely. That was the first time I had ever seen him smile. 'Did you mean it?' he asked. I thought for a second before answering, 'Well, do you want her off your case?' I was vaguely aware of the fact that we were still holding hands. My head was flooded with the memory.

"Alright, class is over," Percy yelled. "I want to see Travis, Nico, Shannon, and Andromeda before you head out." I headed over.

Percy had us all sit down on the bleachers (I always imagined the arena with bleachers). "This is about the quest." There was silence. "Eros spoke with me last night. Travis is here because he is the cabin leader for Hermes. Apparently, a new camper is supposed to come this after noon. The camper's name is Lisa Davis. She is a daughter of Hermes and possesses a unique skill. She can, kind of, sniff out, demigods. Your quest is to begin tomorrow. This girl has already been trained by the gods themselves. She has known she is a demigod her entire life." I snuck a look at Nico's face. He wasn't showing any emotion.

"Why does Lisa Davis sound familiar?" Shannon and I wondered out loud together. We answered our own questions, "Foster Home!" Shannon and I stared at each other in amazement. I wondered how she knew Lisa.

"Lisa was my best friend when I was in the 'Sunshine Hill Foster Home for Troubled Children'," she said in a really weird falsetto because she was a girl.

"Are we talking about the same foster home, 'cus that place was creepy! Mrs. Carr had me-" Shannon cut me off.

"Scrub the toilets with your toothbrush or," she shuddered, "the time out closet?" I gave a half hearted smile.

"Normally, both. I ran away after a month of living there. Lisa had been there for 5 years. I never understood how she could stand it there. She said she went to a special school. Now I get what she meant." Shannon must have gone there too.

"It was the last place I was. Oh gods, the police must be looking for me." She did a face palm, "The only reason Mrs. Carr didn't send me back to the orphanage was because I was making money for her. Holy Hera! What am I gonna do?" Travis put his arm around her and we both gave him a death glare. He pulled his arm back quickly.

"So, lets go up to the, Oh My Gods! She's here." Shannon and I ran up to the hill really fast.

When Lisa saw us, she gave a really wide grin and ran up to hug us. "Thank the gods! I thought you two were dead. Shannon, you look so different, like, absolutely gorgeous! Andy! You... You're..." I decided to finish Lisa's sentence.

"So breathtakingly beautiful you are speechless?" I struck a pose. When we were kids, I would joke around with her and pretend we were princesses. She laughed. She saw Travis, Percy, and Nico and waved.

"Can I say hi to my brother?" She headed down into the valley and we followed. When we reached the boys, she gave Travis a big hug and said, "Wassup big bro?!"

"Nuttin' much lil' sis!" They had obviously met before.

When she pulled back from the hug, her eyes narrowed, like she wanted to kill either Percy or Nico. She quickly hid her discomfort, and I realized if she had met Travis, she probably met Percy. Percy walked away and Lisa turned to Nico.

She held out her hand, "Lisa Davis, daughter of Hermes. Care to tell me what your name is 'Ghost King'?" Nico paled a little, which was almost impossible. "Relax, I don't kill someone before I learn who they are and how they treat my friends."

He shook her hand, "Nico, Nico Di Angelo."


	9. Chapter 9

**So this chapter is a story about a fight for survival, not! Its mostly fluff about the day before they leave for their quest, Andrico, and Sheo (I don't know, It sounded better Lennon, sounds too much like lemon). OH MY GAWDS! House of Hades come out tomorrow, is anyone else freaking out about this? Unfortunately, my copy doesn't come till Wednesday, so I am not going to have any spoilers in the next chapter, probably. If Rick ends up killing off one of the seven: 1: he will receive a lot of hate mail from me, and 2: this story will not conform to some details of HoH. K? I hope you enjoy my fluff chapter and please review. Normally, I'm not good at fluff so, tell me if I'm off a little. And don't think that this chapter is all fluff, there is a little plot motion in here that is necessary to the survival of your very essence. Hasta Luego, I mean, leyendo (ok, how ironic is it that read on in spanish looks a lot like leyna?)**

**Nico: Whatever you may think, I'm not a creeper, just because I'm about 80 and dating a 15 year old doesn't mean I'm creepy. **

**Andromeda: Nico, you were frozen in time, and I thought that you were supposed to do the disclaimer?**

**Nico: Right! Well, I just wanted to say that, and thank you for all th-**

**Andromeda: Nico!**

**Nico: Someone Help Me! Anyways, *gulps under Andy's glare* Sarah (thats my fake name) doesn't own PJO or HOO or anything except the plot, my girlfriend, Leo's soon to be girlfriend, Lisa, and Britt and any other characters you don't recognize.**

Chapter 9

He shook her hand, "Nico, Nico Di Angelo." She had on a cute smile that, OH MY GODS! She was flirting with my boyfriend. Luckily, Nico noticed and followed up with, "And if you were wondering how I treat your friends, Andy is my girlfriend." Smart move boy, smart move. Lisa seemed a little disappointed, but she kept her smile on.

Shannon's hands flew up in triumph, "He admits it! Finally. They won't tell us anything!" We chose to ignore the comment.

"Well, who is the questing team?" By that time, Travis was gone.

"Us," Shannon answered. "This was the prophecy:

'You shall journey to the deadest land  
With the thief, the ghost king, and the dam  
To a land without love, or a single wise thought  
The wisest and the loving will save you of all  
You will find the lost and expose the traitor  
And soon all will know whom is greater'"

Lisa nodded.

"What does it mean?" I asked.

She answered, "Well, my best interpretation is the deadest land would be the Underworld. The thief would be me, the Ghost King is Nico, and love would be Shannon. I remember that a couple years ago there was a son if Hades who helped out Percy and Annabeth in the Labyrinth and he called himself the Ghost King."

"Uh, yeah, that was me." Nico stated and I was shocked. How long had he been doing this sort of stuff?

Lisa continued, "The dam, hmm. It could be a cursed person..."

"Its me." I stated and that shocked all of us, even me.

"What?" Shannon screamed.

Nico had an idea, "You're right. A dam stops water, you can control water, so this quest may have something to do with water. Dam!" I had to giggle. Everyone stared at me like I had lost my mind now. I had to admit, I may have seemed a little bonkers. Finally, Lisa and Shannon caught on and joined me. Nico asked, "Why are you guys all giggling like idiots?" He just made us laugh harder.

"Maybe I can find some clothes for you Lisa, or maybe the dam can," Shannon replied, while still laughing.

"You know this isn't really a funny joke because my sister died on a quest that went through the Hoover Dam and Percy, Zoe, Thalia, and Grover already made this joke." That shut us up. We all sat there looking a little guilty. I walked up to Nico and hugged him. He seemed surprised at first, but he relaxed. I heard a bunch of footsteps and looked up. It was Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Thalia, a girl who looked about my age with dark skin and chocolate hair, a boy who looked maybe 15 or 16 and had a bow, and some hispanic dude. They were staring at Nico. Percy had his mouth open and Thalia looked at us like she had never seen anyone give Nico a hug before.

"You actually let... I'm gonna die!" was all anyone said, and by anyone, I mean Piper.

"Nico!" Thalia sounded almost excited, "You've grown social! You let someone hug you without them getting a death threat!" The girls in the group all started smiling and the boys still looked confused.

"Who are you people?" Lisa asked. She seemed impatient, not a typical of the normally calm Lisa Davis. With her orange hair and freaky green eyes, she looked a lot like the oracle, Rachel.

The hispanic dude answered, "My dear children, this is Frank Zhang, the son of the almighty Mars Ultor. This is Hazel and I'm sure she can introduce herself once Jason and Thals here start arguing again about who is older. And of course, I am yours truly, Leo Valdez. Son of Hephaestus with awesome powers over fire, also know as Supreme Commander of the Argo _Dos_. And I," he winked at Shannon and she stifled a giggle, "am available."

The dude was pretty funny.

"Well, this is Shannon, daughter of Eros or Cupid because I noticed you introduced Frank as the son of a Roman god as well as Jason was introduced to me. This is Lisa, she is the daughter of Hermes or Mercury. My name is Andromeda Jackson, I'm Percy's sister, and I'm the daughter of Poseidon or Neptune." We had a nice little chat which Shannon and Leo were flirting with each other through and made me want to gag. Thankfully, the horn blew, signaling it was time for dinner.

"Hey, Um... If you guys want to come down to the forge after dinner, I'll be there. I can help you out with a few magic weapons. My sister's 'friend', John from the Hecate cabin helps out with magicing the items up and he's coming down after dinner. I can get you guys suited with some more weapons before tomorrow morning. Trust me, you'll need them. With a child of Poseidon, a kid of Hades, a powerful kid of Hermes, and a beautiful archer like Shannon, you guys 'll be sending up monster flares like crazy. I have something that'll help you when your setting up camp to sleep and stuff, but other than that, there's not much I can do to help you guys." He flashed Shannon a crazy grin and she blushed.

Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Leo, and Nico all headed up the hill. We waited for them to get out of earshot before basically screaming at Shannon, "Oh, you so like each other!" Piper gave a girly squeal and I wondered if she was still hyped up on the Mountain Dew from a few days ago. Shannon blushed an even deeper shade of scarlet.

"You think so? I mean, Leo is really hot, why would he like me?" We stared at her for a second not believing that she just asked that question.

Lisa answered, "Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? You are like, drop-dead gorgeous. Why wouldn't he want to go out with you? Your funny, smart, capable, and absolutely stunning. Of course he would want to go out with you!"

"I mean Leo flirts with like every girl he sees," Piper chided. "But I have never, not once, seen him flirt like this. Normally he'd try his cheesy pick-up line 'hey babe, hows about a hot date with team Leo' and be done, but that is like the most intently I have ever seen him flirt."

"Yeah, I know, Leo needs to get a better pick up line," a different voice said from behind us. It was Nico.

"How much of this conversation did you hear?" I asked.

"I heard everything from when Shannon called Leo hot." I grabbed my boyfriend by the shirt collar and pulled him down so he was eye-level with me.

"You didn't hear any of this conversation." I stated firmly. If he told Leo about this before Shannon got asked out, we would have a major girl code red on our hands. (My girl code reds are getting stood up, a guy overhearing a couple of girl conversations and he knows who the girl has a crush on, or a break-up over a text message. We girls are sensitive!) Wow, I'm turning into a major Aphrodite chick.

"Ok, but only if you promise to let go of my shirt." I kept my gaze locked with his. I was not going to back down.

"Swear it on the Styx you wont tell Leo, indirectly or otherwise."

"You know I think you like this a little too much." I turned red. We were almost nose to nose. He laughed a my reaction, "Fine, I swear on the river Styx that I wont tell Leo Shannon thinks he is hot until after they go on their first date, indirectly or otherwise." That satisfied me. I let go of his collar, but he didn't pull back up. Nico was about 3 inches taller than me. "Are you coming to dinner now?" he asked. I broke his gaze.

I realized the three girls were still there when they shouted, in unison, "Just kiss already!" Nico turned a deep shade of red that I thought was impossible for a human of his pale complexion to be, apparently not. I was probably still blushing by the time we got to the dining pavilion. Everyone was just sitting down as we came in, so it wasn't like we missed anything. Lisa went to go sit with her siblings from Hermes and apparently started joking around with them.

"What happened between you and Nico?" Percy asked.

I responded, "Oh, nothing. Just leave it to Lisa, Piper, and Shannon to make me defending my friend's honor an awkward moment. Why do you ask?"

"Your face is as red as a tomato," he said and I must have blushed harder, because he continued, "Its even redder now."

"What are you, an Aphrodite girl?" I asked. Percy was acting more like an Aphrodite girl than Piper was a few minutes ago, and thats hard to do.

We finished dinner (grilled chicken salad for me, YUM!), and headed to the forge. Percy left us to go hang out with Annabeth (go figure!) and he basically left the safety of us in the hands of Leo. To be honest, after I caught on fire, I didn't really trust the guy. We were about to knock on the door when it swung open. Leo came waddling out. He yelled, 'I told you they were coming Nyssa' and motioned for us to come in. I actually didn't realize I was on fire until Nico grabbed my hand and pulled aways quickly. It tickled. I must have looked like an insane idiot, with my arm on fire and giggling uncontrollably. Leo quickly smothered the flames with his hand and we realized my arm actually wasn't burnt. Yeah, it was a little pink, but it wasn't burnt. Nico's hand had only touched mine for less than a second, and already a white blister was starting to form on his fingers (I've been burned by a stove fire before so I know how it feels and how it looks, don't ask me, I have no idea why I would put my finger on a gas fire stove while it was on).

"Dude! You need some ice!" Leo exclaimed.

"I'm on it," I said. I concentrated and there was a thin layer of frost on Nico's hand.

* * *

**Do you like it or hate it? Normally, I'm not good with fluff. Anyways, If you go on facebook there is a poster of Eros/Cupid. He looks really creepy right? Well, please review and please review honestly, and I totally know I was using the dam joke from titan's curse that reappears in MoA. Have a nice life and please, if you have already read HoH and this story doesn't match up, let me know and I'll do my best to fix it, but without reading the book, its kind of hard. Live, Laugh, Love. Wow, I feel more personal now than i did when I started this story, *shrugs*, whatever. I hope you enjoyed the story, and if you didn't, please tell me. Just review in general. Peace, live long and prosper y'all (Yeah, I'm also a trekie). So brief overview of all the couples I have mentioned (or are rooted for) in this story:**

**-Frazel**

**-Tratie**

**-Percabeth**

**-Jasper**

**-Sheo**

**-Andrico**

**Thalia and Rachel are still *all the single ladies, all the single ladies* (sorry, just had to). Nico Di Angelo is my favorite PJO character and I couldn't stand to see him all alone and sad, so I gave him a girlfriend and made him a little less... depressing.**

**I'm gonna stop my tangent and do my math now (see what I did there?)! Bye!**


	10. Author's Note (you need to read this!)

**Hey guys,**

**This isn't an update. So, I just finished reading House of Hades and just to let you know, because this conflicts with my story, I am going to ignore what we find out about Nico in Chapter XXXVI/36. I won't spoil it for you, but please know that I'm just going to ignore that for most of my stories from here on. This is mainly because, I have already written a ton of stories and am just editing them until I can update them. On another note, I can't believe how long it took me to finish the stinking book! I got it yesterday and read for about an hour and a half, and ONLY an hour and a half. Like, how is that even possible? It only took me 2 hours to finish Sea of Monsters the FIRST time I read it. Yeah, I'm that kind of freak who times how long it takes her to read a book, sue me. I still wish they left Valdez in Crotia (read HoH, you'll understand)! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKK! I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited for "the Blood of Olympus" to come out!1**

**Peace, Love, be Emo!**

**Highlights123 (haha, I just typed 124! Snickers! I name kinds of laughs as candy ok, don't judge me. And don't judge my bronie Nico! We all know he secretly like MLP!)**


	11. Chapter 10

**Sorry about the last update/author's note. I was so excited about finally being able to read the book. Hades, it was amazing! Here's my next chapter. Its a little short and fluffly (so is the next one), but I don't want to play out the plot too quickly just yet. Have a wonderful Tuesday and I hope you enjoy! This part of the story takes place during the forge, and the next morning. Well, get on with it and read!**

**Chapter 10**

"COOL!" Leo exclaimed. Nico looked relived, but he was shivering.

"Nice job. Hey, the next time you cool down someone, focus on exactly where you want them to cool down, and not all the blood in their body." Nico was shivering violently. He was faking, he loves the cold. I smiled and lightly punched his arm. He stopped 'shivering,' and continued walking to the back of the forge. When we got there, I wished that I didn't come. A girl who looked really strong and nothing like Leo, was having a make-out session with a guy with blond hair in, what was it, Beaver Style, hair cut. Shannon gave an ear shattering squeal while the rest of us wanted to throw up.

"And this is why you don't have a make-out session in the forge Nyssa!" Leo was practically screaming at the couple. They broke apart gasping for air, and finally noticed Leo. They both blushed a crimson red, and Shannon started having giggling fits. Stupid love god traits.

"Aw! I can't wait to tell Piper!" She exclaimed.

"No!" Nyssa and, I assumed the guy was John, screamed at the same time. Shannon burst out laughing.

When she finally calmed down enough, she said, "I can't believe you actually thought I would tell Piper! She would go bezerk!"

"Bezerk?" Leo questioned.

"What? Don't judge my sayings!"

"Nah, I think its cute."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Nyssa had to ruin the moment, "And you yell at us! Where has all the sanity gone?" She had us all laughing. Leo and Shannon had rosy cheeks.

"Payback!" Nico and I high-fived. Nico continued, "So, Leo said you all could help us with some supplies for our quest?"

"Oh, you guys are leaving tomorrow, right? You have 2 kids of the big 3, a powerful child of the god of love, and a Hermes kid trained by the gods themselves, you need a smokescreen and some more weapons. I can guarantee there are going to be a lot of monster attacks because that's a lot of demigod aura." Nyssa was being very kind compared to a minute ago. "Nico, John, and Leo, you guys go find the smokescreen, I'll take the girls through the weapons. If you like your weapons already, I can reinforce them pretty quickly."

"Yeah, my bow feels a little off. I was gonna take it down, but I haven't had much time." Wow, this seemed like a really sudden subject change.

"Ok, I'll take a look at it. I want you to show me all the weapons you have." I pulled off my charm bracelet, as Shannon took a hair clip out of her hair. The clip transformed into a bow.

"I have a backpack that doubles as a quiver. The arrows never run out." The boys had just come back and Nico was holding a container filled with a green smoke.

"So, I heard your bow was out of alignment? Let me see." Shannon handed Leo the bow and he studied it carefully. He made a minor adjustment or something. Leo handed he back the bow and grabbed an arrow that was on the wall. "Shoot... that ring on the far side of the forge."

"What the-" I started. I couldn't see any ring on that side of the wall. I could barely see the wall.

"I see it. Tell Jake to stand clear though. I don't want to end up shooting him."

"Hit the side walls everybody! We're testing a weapon!" Apparently, that's all anyone needed to hear. Shannon raised the bow and took aim. She looked deadly. It felt like she was waiting forever to let go of the string. Shannon concentrated, then released her deadly fire unto the wall. DRAMA!

"Now, we go see if you hit it!" Leo was almost jumpy. When we got to the other side of the forge, there actually was a small ring of black scorch marks. The arrow was in the center of the ring. Shannon smiled widely.

"Thanks Leo!" She hugged him and he looked like he was going to pass out. Nico chuckled. Wow, the words Nico and anything to do with happiness normally don't belong in a sentence together.

"You guys should all get some sleep, your gonna need it. I remember my first quest, I went into the woods to find a haywire dragon. It spit fire at me and I ended up untangling it from the traps Nyssa here, wait, where'd she go. Hmm... John's gone too. Eh, they're probably making out again. Go and sleep. I'll reinforce your bow and make you some more arrows if you want. Andy, I think I can make it so you never have to go back for your knives. Lisa, you need to tell me what kind of weapon you need. Nico, ya got anything ya need me ta do for ya?" Leo was being an imp.

"Nope," responded Nico, popping the 'p'.

Lisa piped up, "I've got some stuff, but I think I could use a little extra insurance. Lets see, I've got my sword," she was pulling out all the weapons as she said them and set them on the table, "daggers, shield, knife, bow, quiver of arrows, and backup sword. Am I being a little paranoid?"

"Remind me to not cross you while I'm unarmed. And no, I don't think I can give you any more weapons than you already have, unless you want some armor." Simply put Leo.

"I think I'm forgetting something." Her hand went up to her necklace and began fiddling around. "Oh, I'm so stupid!" She suddenly burst out. Lisa ripped the necklace away, and it morphed into some kind of dagger. The blade was about 3 inches long and bronze. The hilt was also short. It looked like the kind of knife that you would throw at the last second, before someone brought their blade down onto you.

"You have a LOT of weapons," Leo stated. No, duh, Captain Obvious. We all got a few modifications to our weapons except Nico. Shannon and Leo were flirting again and I tried my best not to gag. A very productive visit to the forge. We went to sleep and no dreams found me. Percy and/or Annabeth didn't wake up screaming, so I was pretty well rested. The next morning, we ate breadfast and headed up to Thalia's Pine, where we would cross camp borders.

"To the world of mortals, monsters, and demigods," sighed Nico.

"Oh my!" Added Shannon and we went into giggling fits (except Nico, he stood there looking confused (Wizard of Oz joke)).

* * *

**Please review, and tell me if you want more broadway jokes and stuff. I have an arsenal of broadway things I could add to this. I'll try to get Chapter 11 out ASAP! Just a warning, #11 is really, really long so far. I don't even know how much I've written.**


	12. Chapter 11

**I think this may be my longest chapter yet. I have a lot of dialogue in here so, brace yourself for social interactions. I apologize if Nico seems a little OOC, I know Piper was pretty OOC when I wrote about her. Enjoy this chapter and please, review!**

Chapter 11

That morning, we were all well rested. Shannon wore her usual hunter green jacket, jeans, and a solid color t-shirt. Today, it was gray. Lisa had on jeans and an orange t-shirt. I was wearing shorts and my favorite, 'Time Warp,' shirt from Rocky Horror (It's a pretty cool song, but don't watch the play, that is just plain creepy). Nico was ready to go. He was just wearing a black t-shirt and dark jeans. We all wore sneakers, well, Lisa and Shannon were wearing combat boots. Leo came up on the hill to meet us. He was holding a bag.

"Your weapons?" Oh gods, I had completely forgot. He handed Shannon her bow/hair clip and she slid it into her hair with ease. He handed Nico a backpack. He gave me back my charm bracelet, which was now a silvery bronze. It had a lot more charms on it. One looked like a spear, another like a long cavalry sword. He handed Lisa the rest of the bag and walked up to Shannon. He pulled her into the woods. Lisa was starting to put on her weapons. Her sword morphed into a tab that goes on a keychain. She pulled a D-ring out of her pocket. The daggers, she strapped to her sides. Her shield turned into a bracelet. She stuck her knife in her left boot. Her bow went on the D-ring as another tab, and her quiver, was a little pouch that fit easily into her pocket. Her other sword went on the D-ring too, and the small dagger she showed us last night went on her neck.

"You look half way normal now," Nico commented. I rolled my eyes. "No, I'm serious, you relaxed like crazy after you were done." I chuckled. I turned around and headed into the woods to find Shannon. I stopped when I could hear their conversation.

"-come back to me in one piece, alright?" Leo said.

"Of course Leo! You've helped us so much. Now, all we need, is to get my father's bow and return it to him here." I peeked at them. They were standing really close.

"Just don't die." Then, he kissed her! Full blown, right on the lips. She kissed him back and they just stood there kissing for about 10 seconds.

When they broke apart, I told them, "We're leaving. And Leo, nice to know how concerned you are with my friend's safety. Trust me, I'd rather die myself than let one of my friends die." He nodded, then stalked off. When he was out of earshot, I started to ask Shannon, "So, how was your-"

She cut me off by saying, "It was pure bliss. I've never met anyone sweeter," and on that happy note, we walked towards Nico and Lisa, towards our possible deaths.

**(Line Break)**

We all hopped in the black SUV that Argus was driving us into the city with. There was an awkward silence for a few minutes, when Lisa asked, "So, what did Leo want to talk to you about?" HaHaHa, this should be funny.

"That's none of your-" I cut her off.

"He was saying how much he didn't want her to die and then," I paused to look at Shannon's crimson face, "he kissed her!" I thought I heard her say 'Shut up' under her breath but, whatever. Lisa started smiling widely.

Nico piped up, "Change of subject, What is the mission of the quest?"

"Hades, I nearly forgot!" started Shannon, but she stopped.

"Will you tell us?" I asked in anticipation.

"Yeah, sorry, I thought I saw something, its probably nothing. Anyways, my dad's bow was stolen. Not the arrows, just the bow. He's been using a substatute bow from Apollo, but it feel off to him. Supposedly, the God of Strength stole it. What was his name? Krios, Kirito-"

"Doesn't matter. He's the twin of Nike. If he stole Cupid's bow, then we have a problem. I mean, I'm no fan of Eros, we have a little, history, but we have to stop him. If he's collectiong stuff from the god of love, who knows what may happen. If he get Aphrodite's girdle, oh gods, he could have total control over love." Nico made no sense.

"Translation?" I asked.

Lisa continued, "Ever heard the expression: All's fair in love and war? Well, that means that love and war are connected. Without war, there'd be no love, without love, there'd be no war. You may consider them opposites, but they are sometimes considered the same thing. Its like Night and Day, Moon and Sun, Artemis and Apollo, there are many other things. Ares and Aphrodite are opposites, you'd think they would war all the time, but they love each other." I nodded. Lisa was actually making sense to me.

"So, if he controls Love then he controls War?" I asked, just to confirm my suspicions.

"Precisely! Think of it this way, if someone was to take Nico, they'd probably control you by threatening to hurt him. Then, they could lie and tell Nico they had you, and threaten to hurt you, then they'd control him too. Control over the sea and death, that'd be a problem. Oh Gods! Thats why Aphrodite had to threaten the council not to kill you two!"

"Excuse Me!" Nico and I exclaimed at the same time.

"Yeah, I'm invited to a lot of council meetings, and if not, well, I'm a daughter of Hermes. The entire last meeting was devoted completely to a certain, 'Son of Hades and his "friend."' Um... are you ok?" I was in shock, but I felt fine. Then I looked at Nico, and his face was really, really pale. I waved my hand in front of his face and he didn't move. Shannon was trying to stifle giggles and Lisa looked a little concerned. She grabbed a little ambrosia and handed it to me. Her message was clear, 'make him eat it, I don't think you want me touching your boyfriend's face.' I shoved the ambrosia in Nico's partially open mouth and made him chew. He swallowed and seemed to come back to his senses.

"Thanks, uh... If I'm not mistaken, the last time one of those meetings were held, the couple died." Eek! That wouldn't be good.

"Uh, do you have a brother Nico?" I asked. Stupid question. He shook his head no. Problems...

"Ok, lets continue on our plan. Curse ADHD!" Shannon made me giggle. I don't giggle often, do I?

"Earth to Ariel!" Lisa go my attention.

"Ariel?" I asked.

"Don't think I forgot the time you dyed your hair red."

"Oh, come on! You swore never to speak of that again!"

"I didn't swear on the Styx!"

"I didn't know anything back then!"

"No excuse!"

Shannon piped up, "you dyed your hair red?" Lisa and I laughed.

"Mrs. Carr said we had to dress up like twins one Halloween," Lisa started.

"Lisa was against dying her hair black, so I dyed my hair red. I figured I wouldn't look much different, except for the red hair. Boy, was I wrong!"

"She looked really pale against the shade of red we grabbed. It was hilarious!"

"And ever since, she's called me Ariel, because I loved the water so much."

Shannon asked, "Is that why you nicknamed me Cinderella?" I cracked up.

"I always nickname my friends by Disney princesses. Unless they're guys. For example, Nico's nickname is Eric." Nico threw his hands out as if to ask why.

"What the Hades is wrong with-" he stated.

"She nicknamed you that because Ariel ends up with Eric, Nico! Did you not watch the Little Mermaid?" Shannon made me laugh. If he answered

yes, we would shun him. If he said he watched it: Blackmail!

"I'm not answering that!" Smart move. I think I said that out loud because Shannon and Lisa glared at me.

"I said that out loud, didn't I?" They looked confused.

"How could you have NOT forced your boyfriend to watch your favorite Disney movie with you?" They asked in unison. I blushed.

"I did," they looked confused so I elaborated, "He fell asleep within 5 minutes. I tried to wake him up, but, boys."

"Whats wrong with boys?" Nico asked and Lisa and I laughed.

"You sleep like dogs," Shannon said coolly. I had managed to quit giggling and now just had a smirk on my face. Nico scoffed.

"Yeah," Lisa added, "Percy does, Travis does, Connor does, Chris does, You do, Leo does-"

"Leo?!" we all exclaimed/asked.

"I do come to camp sometimes. He is a pranking GENIUS! Leo is a mechanical stealth pranker. Elaborate pranks that work silently are his specialty. I

did need some friends my own age!"

"So, how exactly do you know that he sleeps like a dog?"

"Same as everyone. He tried to play a prank on me, I painted his face blue!"

"That was you!" Nico shouted in rage. I put my hand on his shoulder to calm him down. This was the first time I'd seen him without his Aviator Jacket on. Shannon and Lisa were laughing their butts off. It was kind of funny, but I held myself back, knowing that he'd ignore me for a little while if I did. We sat the rest of the time in a more comfortable silence. Halfway to the city, Lisa and Shannon started playing a hand game. I rested my head on Nico's shoulder as he stared out the front of the SUV. He moved and relaxed without saying a word. Nico leaned his head back and closed his eyes. I closed my eyes too and fell asleep.

When we got to the city, I felt someone shaking my shoulder. "Get up! We're here!" I opened my eyes and found Lisa shaking my shoulder. Nico was still in the same position he was in when I fell asleep. I smiled. It was rare to see him asleep. The only time before was during the Little Mermaid. That was a necessary school event that he was planning on skipping. I practically forced him to go. We sat in the back and he fell asleep. Stupid ADHD. So, I was thinking about this when Lisa yelled in my ear.

"Nico, we're here," I said groggily. He still sat there. I shook his shoulder a little. He still wouldn't wake up. "Nico!" I said a little louder. Lisa grabbed something out of my bag. She held it up to Nico's ear, and before I could warn her, she blew the horn. He hopped up and I was thrown back into the front seat. There were black spots in my eyes. I felt very dizzy. Someone tried to put something in my mouth. I opened my mouth and started chewing. It was the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted. My vision cleared and I saw Nico was right in front of me.

"Ouch," I managed to say after a little while. He smiled.

"Sorry," was all he said.

"I blame Lisa," was my response and he smiled. Rarities! Sorry if your reading this, he hardly smile! I got up and Nico steadied me. They had moved me out to the street, so we weren't in the SUV anymore.

Lisa looked a little guilty before she said, "I had no idea that would be his reaction. Sorry, I should have let you continue trying to wake him up."

"And this is why I'm anti-social. When I lose control of my emotions, bad things happen." Nico was joking around I just knew it.

"Lisa, Why do you have an air horn anyways?" she looked relived and shrugged.

"Your backpack, a gift from Piper, right? So, I saw it earlier when I was checking to make sure you had everything. I guess Piper thought we'd need it.

Just a question, Did you pack with Piper, or did you let her pack for you?"

"We packed together, but I left it in the Aphrodite cabin during dinner yesterday. Why?"

"Trust me, you'll find out soon enough. Swear on the Styx not to hurt me, Nico, Shannon, or Piper when you find out what she packed you."

"I swear on the river Styx that I won't physically or emotionally harm Lisa Davis, Nico Di Angelo, Shannon Greene, or Piper McClean when I find out what's in my backpack. Happy? Now, what did she pack me?" I grabbed my pack from her and looked inside. All that was packed, was a bunch of camisoles and jean shorts. Stupid Aphrodite girls!

"I'm going to KILL whoever did this!" I said. I kept scowling and continued, "but for now, we need to go along with our quest. Any idea of what to do?"

"South. He likes the South. We grab the bow and go back to camp. We need our wits, you can't beat him in strength." What the Hades was Nico talking about?

"How do you..."

"Dreams. Terrible, ugly dreams." He said with fear and disgust. "You know what Lisa was talking about before, about being able to control me with Andy? Well, my dream, it was Andy, in a room, being tortured by the god. He was using Apollo's arrows."

"What's wrong with Apollo's arrows?" i asked.

Lisa answered, "Do you know that myth about the Queen of Delphi?" I shook my head no. "Well, Delphi was supposedly the island where Artemis and Apollo were born. Everyone worshiped Leto, their mother. The queen thought that, because she had 7 sons and 7 daughters, that she should be worshiped instead of Leto. She made this boast, and that night, Artemis and Apollo killed all her children. Artemis killed the daughters with her arrows. They supposedly killed silently, with no pain at all. Apollo killed the boys the same way, except his arrows caused them to die in extreme pain. Even if your just cut slightly by one, it still is excruciatingly painful."

I was about to respond when Shannon randomly said, "Que hora es?" (What time is it?)

"Es el cuatro y media. Que?" I responded. (It's 4:30. Why?)

"Como se dice, I speak very little spanish, en espanol?" Lisa added. (How do you say, 'I speak very little spanish, in spanish?)

"No habla espanol!" Nico replied teasingly. (I speak no spanish)

Shannon responded, "Tengo hambre!" (I'm hungry)

"Que hay de McDonalds?" (What about McDonalds?)

"Oh heck to the no!" shouted Lisa, causing a few people to look our way.

"Do you even know what I said?" I asked.

"Something about McDonalds and I hate that place. I'm a freaking vegetarian!" Lisa practically was screaming at us.

"Woah, calm down girl! So where do you want to grab something to eat?" Shannon started.

"Hmm... How about Subway?" She provided.

"Yeah, we can use this to pay." I volunteered. Right before we left, Percy gave me a green lotus cash card. When Nico saw the thing he scowled and backed away.

"Put that stupid thing away!" he growled. I'd never seen him so mad before.

"Ok," I put the card back in my pocket, and he seemed to relax a little.

"What's got you so mad?" Lisa asked, "I mean, its just a debet... Oh yeah! I almost forgot. Wow, I'm stupid sometimes. Don't worry, I wont tell them, you can say when you want to."

"There's no time like the present," he grumbled and I almost laughed, but thought better. "I was trapped in that stupid hotel for about 70 years. The place is creepy. It makes it so you never want to leave..." I was stunned.

"You don't look 80 years old," Shannon blurted out. We (Nico and I) glared at her. "Did I say that out loud? Sorry, ADHD." I hate it when people dismiss stuff off to ADHD.

"Hey, I have a question. Why were we talking in spanish before?" I asked. Stupid ADHD! Wow, I'm a hypocrite.

"Were we? I have no idea. I was talking to Leo last night and we kept switching in and out of spanish and english." Shannon replied. I decided to drop the subject.

"Lets head to subway," Lisa commented, making us get off the steps of the library we were sitting in front of.

We walked into the store, and ordered our food. I had a BLT, Lisa had some weird avocado thing, Shannon had a spicy italian, and Nico got a personal pizza. Boys. We sat down and ate our meal. Nico had just gotten up to get a refill or something in the back of the restaurant, when three dudes came up and sat down.

"What are 3 fine ladies doing all alone here?" The lead one asked.

Being the smart alec I am, I said, "Waiting for my boyfriend to come back so we can leave." He smirked.

"Why not ditch your boyfriends and come with us?"

Lisa chose that moment to speak up, "Look, we really don't want to. Ariel here," she gestured to me, "is feeling a bit nauseous and needs to get home right away."

He had a retort, of course, "Well, I can make you feel better."

"Gross!" exclaimed Shannon.

Nico came back and I honestly, was relived. He sat down and put his arm protectively around me. "Who are you guys?" he asked coolly. I wanted to crawl in a hole. He was very scary when he wanted to be. I managed to make myself be calm and relaxed.

"I'm Trent," the guy who'd spoken to us before said, "and this is Caleb, and this is Richard. We were just asking your friends if they'd like to come to a party later." Lier! The creep was trying to hit on us.

Lisa replied, "Well, I'm Anastasia, this is Ella," she pointed to Shannon with her thumb, "you already know Ariel, and this is her boyfriend Eric. I have a boyfriend that I'm very faithful to, his name is Marcus, in case you were wondering, and Ella's boyfriend's name is Henry." She said this all in a friendly manner, subtly hinting that we are not interested. I noticed she talked with her hands a lot.

"So, none of you are single?" Trent asked dreadfully. I almost felt sorry for the guy, almost.

"Yep, hey, if you all are looking for girlfriends, I noticed those girls over there checking you guys out." I pointed to a group of girls caked in make-up and wearing clothing that, in my opinion, should have been illegal. They headed over to the girl's table and both groups started flirting with each other. In a matter of minutes, they walked out of subway together.

"Nico, you are a life saver!" Shannon exclaimed. "I mean seriously, with three girls here, it looks like a group of friends. If it were only two girls, we could probably pass off as gay for each other or something-"

"Shannon!" Lisa and I scolded.

"Sorry, but its true! Anyways, we could escape their trap with two girls, but three girls, no way to turn them down without brutally killing their mojo!" She took a sip of her Pepsi before continuing, "With you here, it just makes our story more believable! And Andy, nice move setting them up with the three girls, otherwise, they may have never left us alone."

"Hey Nico," Lisa interrupted, "you guys act like you've rescued each other from flirting a lot. I mean, you were remarkably calm."

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe how often that sort of stuff happens. I remember this one dude, who kept pestering me until Nico came over and we stage kissed." I contributed.

"Stage kissed?" Shannon asked.

"You put your thumbs on one person's mouth and press your lips together. It looks exactly like a real kiss, except, well, your thumbs are blocking, so your not actually kissing." I said this as calmly and even toned as I possibly could have, and Shannon just stared at me like I was an alien.

"So, you've never kissed before, like, ever?" was Shannon's first question. Really?

"Nope," Nico and I said at the same time, both popping the 'p.'

"Have either of you been kissed before?" She asked. Typical Aphrodite question.

"I haven't had my first kiss. I know you think its sad, because I'm 15, but I just have this nagging feeling that I'm supposed to wait." I replied.

"And I have the same morals as Andy does and am not some creepy weirdo who tries to make-out with every girl he sees." We all laughed. Way to break the tension Nico!

"Lets just drop this subject," Lisa said. Lifesaver!

"Wait a sec, did you say you were 15? When was your birthday?" Shannon asked.

"Yesterday," I replied in a small voice. I buried my blushing face in Nico's shirt. Shannon was most likely, mentally cooing, while Lisa was making audible gagging noises.

"You guys are worse than Percy," I mumbled.

"Whatever, lets get going. How are we gonna go South? I'm pretty sure Nico can't shadow travel us all there. Plus, we don't know exactly what we're looking for." Lisa, the rational one.

"Just a sec Lisa, why did you call everyone by their nicknames?" I asked. That may have gotten suspicious. She shrugged.

"I have a hard time coming up with names. Hey, at least I didn't call Shannon Cinderella, then, he would have known I was lying."

"Eric and Ariel?" I asked.

"The guy was pretty stupid." True.

"K. How are we gonna get South?" Shannon asked. "Fly?"

"No!" Nico and I screamed at the same time, making the counter guy look up at us. Nico explained, "Do you think that Zeus is gonna let not one, but two, of his brother's children, fly across his realm without killing us? Not to mention, because we're dating, Hades and Poseidon have something in common that could be used to overthrow Zeus, again." The sky rumbled.

"Shannon, flying is out of the question. How about a bus?" Lisa suggested. Everyone nodded in agreement and we headed down to the bus station. We got on a greyhound, heading out of the city and to Philadelphia. The trip took the rest of the day, so we headed into the woods next to the station to set up camp. Lisa pulled 4 mats out of her bag. We set up the smoke-screen and argued about who would take first watch.

Nico wanted the oldest to go first.

Lisa wanted the most experienced to go first.

Shannon wanted the best archer to go first.

And I, was honestly, so hyped up for some reason, that I couldn't sleep.

We eventually agreed that I would take watch, because everyone else was bone tired, as I was practically jumping up and down. My watch was really uneventful. Everyone else was asleep within minutes. I played silent hand games with my self and checked my wrist-watch to see what time it was. After a few hours, Nico woke up (on his own, I was so hyper, I was going to let them sleep all night). I only realized he was awake, when I felt a presence sit next to me.

"Did you think I was going to let you guard all night?"

"I was hoping... I just, get really hyper sometimes, and-"

He cut me off, "I know. Some people that I've had to work with are way worse than you were though. Leo, was by far the worst. He actually built things in his sleep. Leo is seriously hyper." He put his arm around me and I felt myself drifting off to sleep. Tonight, I had a very creepy dream.

"Its a small world after all," was playing in the background. It was extremely dark, but I somehow knew, we were near the sea. I heard a rough voice say, "Did you bring it? The arrow? We must control everything. To capture and restrain the sea, let alone torture it, that is something that has never been done."

A more feminine voice responded, "Yes, master. The arrow is here. He will not even know we have it until it is too late. The sea spawn will be captured. I have learned some new information, a way to control some of death as well."

"Tell me, Now!" Wow this guy's impatient.

"The girl, if you capture her and torture her, but she must stay alive. The boy of death could sense if she died. However-"

"Get to the point!"

"Yes, master. The daughter of Poseidon and the Son of Hades are," she paused for a moment, as if to shudder, "in love." Oh Gods No! They were talking about me and Nico.

"If they are here, in this creepy place of 'where dreams come true,' we could control the Gods." The female voice concluded. I had a feeling, she had another, more painful, idea for me.

"WE? What you are saying, is that if I were to capture both, then I would have control over death and sea. We could overthrow Zeus again. Mwahahahahahahahaha..." The rough voice was starting to get on my nerves. I woke up sometime while the guy was still laughing.

I sat bolt upright and I was shaking in fear. It was morning. I realized I was on one of the mats that Lisa had set up. Nico was still awake, keeping watch. I got up and sat next to him. Lisa and Shannon were asleep, so I decided to tell Nico about my dream.

"Hey," he said.

"Morning," I was ready to tell him all about my dream. "I had a dream. There were these two voices. One was feminine and the other was male and rough. They kept talking about an arrow and controlling death and sea. I think that they're gonna try to capture us, well, at least me."

"I know, did they mention where they were?" he asked.

"They said something about a place where dreams come true. I'm kinda scared to find out what that means."

I heard a new voice, "I dreamed about that teacups ride in Disney. It was when I was five. Apollo was on babysitting duty and I had told him I wanted to meet Rapunzel, or something stupid like that. He brought me to disney and we did everything possible. I personally think, he had way more fun than he'll ever admit." It was Lisa. I smiled at her comment.

"Disney!" I exclaimed. "Oh Gods, I know where we have to go! I remember in my dream 'Its a Small World' was playing. It may have been the ride after hours. That's why it was so dark!"

"So, if Lisa saw the past, and Andy saw the present, then what did Shannon see?" Nico asked. I ran over to Shannon. I was going to wake her up, but she was already looking around the campsite trying to find us. I twig snapped underneath my foot, and I felt an arrow breeze past my head. It landed in a tree.

"Shannon, why did you try to kill me?" I asked. She looked like she just had a panic attack.

"I thought you all had been kidnapped. Where have you been?" She sounded worse.

Lisa snook up from behind, "Bed empty, No note, Car gone?" Lisa was talking in a British accent. I quickly realized it was from Harry Potter.

"Oh, Harry darling, how are you?" I concluded. We all burst out laughing, well, except for Nico.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Did you not read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone a.k.a. the Philosopher's Stone as Brittin likes to call it?" Lisa asked and Nico stood there looking confused.

"I have ADHD and dyslexia, you expect me to sit down and read a book?" Logical answer. Lisa looked at me with daggers. I guess I said that out loud, oops! "I'm gonna go and get something to eat. Stay here," and with that, he shadow-traveled away. We cleaned up and changed our clothes. I wore the black cami and dark wash shorts that the stupid Aphrodite campers put in my bag. Lisa had on shorts and a Green Day tee, as Shannon wore

a One-Direction tee under her hunting jacket. When we asked her why, she just shrugged. I pulled my hair into a high pony-tail, and we cleaned up the camp.

I thought we should start singing, so I chose one of the orphanage's favorite songs from Annie.

**_[Andy}_**

**_It's the hard-knock life for us!_**

**_It's the hard-knock life for us!_**

**_[Lisa]_**  
**_'Steada treated, _**

**_[All]_**  
**_We get tricked! _**

**_[Shannon]_**  
**_'Steada kisses, _**

**_[All]_**  
**_We get kicked! _**

**_It's the hard-knock life!_**  
**_Got no folks to speak of, so, _**  
**_It's the hard-knock row we how! _**

**_[Andy]_**  
**_Cotton blankets, _**

**_[All]_**  
**_'Steada of wool! _**

**_[Andy]_**  
**_Empty Bellies _**

**_[All]_**  
**_'Steada of full! _**

**_It's the hard-knock life! _**

**_[Lisa]_**  
**_Don't if feel like the wind is always howl'n? _**

**_[Shannon]_**  
**_Don't it seem like there's never any light! _**

**_[Andy]_**  
**_Once a day, don't you wanna throw the towel in?_**

**_[All]_**  
**_It's easier than puttin' up a fight._**

**_[Lisa]_**  
**_No one's there when your dreams at night get creepy! _**

**_[Shannon]_**

**_No one cares if you grow...of if you shrink!_**

**_[Andy]_**

**_No one dries when your eyes get wet an' weepy! _**

**_[All]_**  
**_From all the cryin' you would think this place's a sink! _**  
**_Ohhhh!_**  
**_Empty belly life! _**  
**_Rotten smelly life! _**  
**_Full of sorrow life! _**  
**_No tomorrow life! _**

**_[Shannon]_**  
**_Santa Claus we never see_**

**_[Andy]_**  
**_Santa Claus, what's that? _**  
**_Who's he?_**

**_[All]_**  
**_No one cares for you a smidge_**  
**_When you're in an orphanage! _**

**_[Lisa]_**  
**_(Making a whistling sound and imitating Miss. Hannigan) _**  
**_You'll stay up till this dump shines _**  
**_like the top of the Chrysler Building. _**

**_[Andy]_**  
**_Yank the whiskers from her chin_**  
**_Jab her with a safety Pin _**

**_[Shannon]_**

**_Make her drink a mickey finn_**  
**_I love you, Miss Hannigan_**

**_[Lisa]_**  
**_(whistle) Get to work! _**  
**_(whistle) Strip them beds! _**  
**_(whistle) I said get to work! _**

**_[All]_**  
**_It's the hard-knock life for us_**  
**_It's the hard-knock life for us _**  
**_No one cares for you a smidge_**  
**_When your in an orphanage _**  
**_It's the hard-knock life_**  
**_It's the hard-knock life_**  
**_It's the hard-knock life!_**

When we finished the song, we were pretty much, ROFL-ing.

"What's that from?" asked a voice from right behind me, and I did the natural thing, I screamed, grabbed my knife, and threw it towards the voice. Of course, the voice just had to be Nico, so he dodged, the knife landed in a tree, and Lisa and Shannon just cracked up more.

"Sorry Nico."

"No problem, are you gonna tell me what you were just singing? 'Cuz you guys are good, like Apollo cabin good." Suddenly, the sky rumbled. Nico looked up at the sky and yelled, "Sorry! But they were pretty good!" I laughed.

"So, what's for breakfast?" Lisa asked. I don't blame her, she was always the hungry one.

"Ahh, that is a good question. For Shannon, I got a peanut butter chip granola bar," and he tossed out the food as he said it. "For Lisa, I grabbed a honey and oats granola bar. And last but not least, for Andy, I grabbed a... insert drumroll here... chocolate and peanut butter chip granola bar."

"Stalker!" Lisa, Shannon, and I yelled.

"Why is that?" he asked, mainly directed at me.

"You managed to get each of us, our favorite granola bars. That is somewhat stalker-ish," does Lisa always have to answer for me? Nico laughed.

"Lets catch a bus to Disney," I interrupted before things started getting ugly.

"Why Disney?" asked Shannon.

"Dreams," I replied. She shrugged it off, and we headed back to the bus station.

* * *

**Is it good? Is it bad? Please let me know!**

**REVIEW! I hope that was a better chapter ending than most. Seriously, I wanna know what you guys think, and thanks to everyone who has reviewed before. I appreciate all the positive feedback that you guys have sent.**


	13. Chapters 12 and 13

**Chapter 12**

We were able to by tickets for a bus that went as far down as Richmond, Virginia. In the bus station, I caught a few boys staring. Naturally, I gave them my signature glare, and walked on. We got on the bus, and to my surprise, I realized we hadn't encountered any monsters in this quest so far. We took a bundle of 4 seats, and were in a position to start talking or whatever, as soon as the bus moved. Nico and I sat together, and Lisa sat with Shannon. He put his arm around me and I leaned against him.

"No PDA!" taunted Shannon.

I immediately retorted, "I thought you were all for romance." Lisa was stifling a laugh.

"Not here!" I had to laugh at her retort. Her mission ever since she was claimed, was to let everyone at camp have romance. We occupied our time by playing a card game. Nico actually had a card set that made cheating impossible. In your face Lisa!

"Alright... here are all your cards, take a look," said Shannon, the appointed dealer. We were playing BS. Nico put down an ace, yay! I need a 2. Luckily, I had one. No one called it a bluff, so I guess that's bad. Before we knew it, we were in Richmond. The train stopped and we got a cab. We told the driver to take us to a motel or something. He dropped us off at a motel 7. We hopped out of the cab after Lisa kindly paid the poor soul who was driving. Nico and Shannon got into a fight about which was better, swords or arrows.

"Lets prioritize, Nico and Andy, you go get us a place to stay. Lisa and I will grab some food." Shannon took control.

"Why us?" We asked at the exact same time.

"Because you think alike and you two are either going to be sleeping together or are going to figure something out. Come on Shannon, we are going to get one of the most wonderful things in the world: FOOD!" Lisa I think, may have needed a little sugar.

"Lets go get 2 rooms and try not to make total fools of ourselves." Nico added with dread. I kissed him on the cheek.

We walked up to the front desk and the lady asked, "Can I help you?" Standard question.

"Yes, we'd like two rooms. Our camp sent us to Richmond to tour the city and they told us the tour took two days. We came here to get a couple rooms so we don't like, have to sleep in the streets or anything." Nico was being smart. Normally he wan't a sociable person, what was going on?

"Do you kids have the money to pay for these rooms and I need to know if you have any adult supervision?" Darn you logical mortal lady.

"Of course we have adult supervision. Ariel's older brother Michael is with us. He went with the other two girls in our group because 'we're the responsible ones.' I think its a load of-"

I cut him off, "Eric, do you really want to finish that?" I paused as Nico shook his head no. "Good, now I'm sorry about Eric, he doesn't think before he says stuff sometimes. Anyways, as he was saying, my older brother Michael, who is 19 and our camp counselor, is with the other two in our group."

"Uh-huh, your names aren't really Eric and Ariel, are they?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, everyone at camp calls me Ariel because I practically live underwater. No, my name is Rose, but his name is really Eric." This was a smart lady.

"Wait a minute, your that sword instructor who came to camp last winter!" Nico said with realization evident in his voice.

"Are you all on a quest? I'll let you guys head up. Oh, and next time deary," she winked at me, "don't call yourself a mermaid and say that you practically live underwater. Its very offensive to some folk. Here are the keys, and you can wait for your friends right here. I have this hotel kind of as a safe haven for demigods who go on quests and stuff. There's a border here, so you won't need to set up whatever camouflage you brought. What do you want me to call you, because you probably don't want to tell me your real names." When she said 'tell me your real names,' I could have hit the floor if Nico hadn't caught me.

"Please don't use charmspeak, I guess I'm allergic to it. Just call us how we introduce ourselves. Um.. I'm guessing that your a daughter of Aphrodite, based on how your eyes change color, just like my friend's back at camp. Call me Ariel, him," I gestured to Nico, "Eric. Call my blond friend who always wears a hunting jacket Ella-"

A voice interrupted me from behind, "And you can call me Anastasia. How are you Cheryl?" The woman smiled.

"I'm good _Anastasia_. Go on up with your friends. I gave you a four bed room, is that all right?"

"Its fine," I answered. We walked over to the elevator and went to our room on the fifth floor. We each walked over to a bed and plopped our stuff down. We were all cramped and tired. Who knew traveling could take so much out of a person?

'I don't know,' said a voice in my head. It continued, 'Daughter of the Sea god, you truly are magnificent in person.'

"Who are you," I asked suddenly standing up. No, fish was going to flirt with me.

'Oh, I forgot, you can't see me yet. Only children of Hades can detect me when I don't wish to be found.' Creepo!

I turned to Nico, "What can you sense in this room, besides us, I mean?"

"I don't sen... Whoa, that's a really potent aura. I think someone is using their demigod aura to hide something." Darn. I smelled salt. All eyes turned towards me. I looked at my feet and saw sandals instead of boots.

"Aw, what the Hades!" I exclaimed. I looked up and I thought I saw something, right above me flicker. I quickly averted my eyesight and grabbed my knives. I realized I was wearing a greek style tunic. ADHD side of my brain going off on detail, sorry. I threw the knives up at where I saw the creature and prayed that I nailed it.

A voice snarled, "You are much smarter than I gave you credit for, Daughter of Neptune. I wondered why you were with the Greeks and the spawn of my husband, so I bided my time. Now, If you plan to finish your quest alive, by the name of my husband, get your knives away from me!"

"Who the Hades are you?" Nico asked. Shannon paled.

It was barely a whisper, so only I could hear her, "Psyche."

"Yes, spawn of my husband, I am Psyche. Now, release me!" I walked over to the woman, and pulled the knife that was pinning her to the wall away.

"Good. Now, would you like to know why I have come?" She radiated beauty. I felt nauseous standing next to her.

"Why?" I managed to make out. She waved her hand and I was back in my regular clothes.

"I need to tell you some information, about your quest." She responded.

* * *

**Chapter 13**

"What? Um... Andy are you OK? You look like your gonna puke," Lisa asked. I think Psyche liked her the best so far.

"No, I'm fine. I'll live." was all I could force out.

"Oh dear, you're allergic, aren't you?" I knew what she meant. I nodded, that was the best I could do to answer her question. Her presence radiated the kind of sickening sweetness that I feel whenever I hear charm-speak. Psyche continued, "Then I'll try to make this as quick as possible. The gods are angry with love."

"That's stupid, how can anyone be angry with love?" Nico commented.

"Why must you offend most of the Gods today? Love is Eros and Aphrodite. The gods are angry because there are many power couples that should not get along. Eros and Hephaestus shouldn't get along because he is the child of Hephaestus' wife and brother, yet Shannon and Leo have strong feelings for each other. No children of the big three are supposed to even be friends, especially children of Hades. To even suggest that a child of Hades and a child of Poseidon would form a power couple, well, that is almost treason on Zeus. Lisa's future is a clouded one. We are sure though, that whomever she ends up, again, with will form a dangerous power couple. And last but not least in this long list of examples, Percy and Annabeth..." I didn't hear anything else she said because the sweetness was too overpowering. My senses blocked out and I could barely keep myself sitting up.

My head was spinning and I felt like my throat was on fire. We decided that we should call this the Psyche incident. Shannon met her crazy step-mom and I got sick of her presence. All in all, a rather uneventful godly visit. I felt a small blast of coolness which I assumed was the others trying break my sort of trance. I felt a small thumb on my forehead, pushing down. I immediately felt better. My breathing was easier, my head mostly stopped spinning, and my stomach calmed down. I could feel someone trying to give me some liquid that I thought was water. It tasted like water (water does have a taste, its just really hard to taste it). I choked on the liquid. My vision cleared and saw Nico leaning over me.

I managed to croak, "Deja vu..." He chuckled.

"Come on, you need some water," he told me.

"Didn't you just give me water?" I asked. He looked confused.

Nico shook his head. "No," I heard Lisa say. "He gave you nectar, more than he should have, I might add. You need water to cool down. Notice how Nico is the closest to you, and he isn't touching you. No doubt he's burning up too, you're basically radiating heat." I wasn't burning up, I was freezing.

"But its so cold! Did you guys turn down the heat or something, I mean, its absolutely freezing!" Shannon looked really hot and flustered, so I guess I really was giving off some heat. "Ok, I'm giving off heat, then why isn't Nico affected?"

He replied, "I'm naturally pale. Do you really think I can turn red that easily? I've gone through Tartarus and drunk from the Phlegeton river. There is no way a little bit of heat is going to kill me." I chuckled and tried to stand up. Nico pushed me back down, but pulled away fast.

"I think I'll try to stop Shannon from exploding," Lisa said. They exited the room.

"Well, If you're not going to get me water, then I'll get it myself." He rolled hid eyes.

"Respect your elders... and your boyfriend." He got up. "Yes, I will bring you water," Nico responded. He left the room for a second and I took the chance to get up. The room started spinning and I had a pounding headache. I felt a cooling sensation and a hissing sound all around me. I felt rejuvenated and realized the room was freezing cold. I felt wet. I held up my hand and saw it glistening with water. I turned to find Nico standing behind me smirking and with a glass in his hand. I'm pretty sure my expression was murderous. How the Hades did one minute, I feel absolutely awful, and the next, better that I ever had in my life?

"What the he-" I started.

He clicked his tongue, "language Andy, language."

"Alright, what was that for?" I asked, in the sweetest tone I could muster.

He grinned evilly, "How are you not cold now?" I was going to kill him.

"I don't know, maybe it has something to do with the fact that I can raise or lower your body temperature. Did you know that the human body is made of 90% water?" He looked scared when I said that. For extra measure I made a ball of water come from the bathroom and made it boil. Nico was still smirking. His smirk faded and he actually looked scared for a second. I was smiling now.

"Let's not act without thinking here," and he let out a nervous laugh. "You really don't want to hurt me, do you?" I laughed.

"You actually think I'd hurt you? Yeah right, and I'm a pacifist." That was very sarcastic. Nico knew I was a violent person.

"Well Ms. Pacifist, would you stop threatening me?" He asked. So many controversies in that question.

"Eh, I think you like it when she threatens you," Shannon said from behind me. I spun around to find Lisa and Shannon, standing in the doorway.

"I think that's actually, the most response I've ever gotten to an empty threat." I volunteered. Shannon laughed, but Lisa was strangely quiet. "Whats wrong," I asked.

She walked into the room and sat at the round four person table. She spoke up, "We have a big problem, and its pretty much my fault." The rest of us sat at the table with her.

"What's all your fault?" Nico asked.

Lisa continued, "Uh, well, there kind of thissmallarmyofmonsterswaitingforusoutside." She was speaking really fast but I could understand her.

"What?" Shannon and Nico said at the same time.

I rolled my eyes, "Lisa, why is it just your fault that there's a small army of monsters out there?"

She sighed before enlightening me. "I'm not a normal demigod. I intentionally avoid the term half-blood, because I'm not a half-blood."

"No way!" Nico exclaimed, "You're not-"

"Yes, I am Nico. I'm the closest person to a god that's ever existed, that's still mortal I mean. You see, I'm kinda illegal."

"Aren't we all? I'm supposed to be dead, Andy was created against the big three pact, and Shannon, well frankly, Cupid's not supposed to have children either, Psyche gets really mad at him." I glared at Nico. This was not the time to be cracking jokes.

"No, I mean I'm older than anyone here," she said.

"How-" Nico started.

"I'm immortal, yes. I'm not a goddess though, otherwise I wouldn't even bother with you. Sorry, that came out wrong. What I mean is, I've lived for thousands of years, up on Olympus. Its a curse, I thought it was a blessing at first. I can alter my form to what I've been, but never anything above sixteen. This is all my fault. Now I know why we haven't been attacked yet. The kind of monsters I attract are smarter, they band together. I hate it. I never seem to catch a break. Well, that's what happens when you deal with half-bloods all the time. Sorry, I'm ranting here. Well, here's my story." This should be good.

"You guys know Heracles? Well, my grandmother married him. Yeah, um my grandmother is Hebe, goddess of youth. My grandmother was conceived before he became a god though, so she was only 3/4 god. Anyways, she went and fell in love with Dionysus, and they had was my mother. My mom and Hermes fell in love, and well, I'm here, aren't I? Like I said, I'm much older than any of you. Heracles doesn't even know about me, neither does Hebe. Dionysus couldn't care less, and my dad, well, he can't interfere, so I've basically been on my own for my whole life. Only recently have I been up to Olympus to train. Athena likes me because I'm smart. She was the one who convinced the gods to let me get better training. When I was a baby, my mom had brought to Chiron for training. He probably doesn't remember me either. I was raised, then I went to go help my... friend, in Rome." She was smiling.

"What happened?" I asked. I was very curious. This was really cool and terrible at the same time.

Her face went stone cold, "I married him. He let everyone think we had a stillborn son and that I died in child birth. He kicked me out onto the streets. I was sold into slavery. Later, he was murdered by his best friend." Nico chocked on the water he was drinking. Lisa continued, "So. now you basically have my life's story. Fall in love with someone, and be betrayed. I suppose that's what I should get. I angered Eros when I was really eight, ha, he was totally humiliated. Ever since Julius betrayed me, I've been cursed. And of course, Autolycus, being the wonderful brother he is, somehow managed to curse me with being immortal. He was made a god, so yeah, he's not the most popular-" I cut her off.

"You knew these people!" I exclaimed. She had her hand on her forehead and looked like she was trying to keep from crying or exploding.

"Your lying. Caesar's first wife's name was Cornelia." Nico concluded, "Her name wasn't Lisa."

She let out a half hearted laugh that scared me. "Do you mind? I seriously hate that name, and that man. I was sixteen for Zeus's sake! Fine, I was lying about being kicked out on the streets. He imprisoned me when he found out I was a greek. I was crucified as a peasant widow who couldn't pay her taxes. I just hung there for two or three months. You know, I was married to him in '84, I was crucified in '69. I wanted so badly, just to die. Some woman saw me one day, with my eyes open crying out and cursing the gods. Apparently, she went by every day and had thought I was dead. I thought I knew what love was like when I married him, but he took advantage of me. I was overjoyed and sad when he was murdered. I went to the palace, and Brutus had me arrested again. At least this time I wasn't crucified, I was sold into slavery. Yes, and then, a couple hundred years later, I fell in love again. And the cycle repeats itself. Fall in love, guy betrays you, hardships, and finally the guy is murdered, every time. Pretty much every guy in my life dies sooner or later. Whether its a friend or something more..." I believed her story. However improbable it was, her story was true.

She was about to flip out. Lisa started cursing in Latin, "Fatuus, nihil boni aliquis excusationem. Tartaro potuit mori pro omnibus ego cura." (Idiotic, no good, excuse for a person. He could die in Tartarus for all I care.)

I responded, "Numquid non ipse mortui iam?" (Isn't he already dead?) She blushed deep red, either really mad at me for pointing out that flaw in her plan, or just plain mad.

"Lets get some rest, and Andy I want to speak with you," Nico broke our near fight. I was really thankful.

We headed over to the corner. Nico was half in the shadows and he looked frightening. He asked, "How do you know Latin?"

"I just did, ok? I'm not greek, I'm roman. That much is obvious. And before you ask me about Lisa's story, I trust her. If I had to pick someone I most trusted on this quest it would probably be her. No offense, but you sometimes give up a little too fast. With Lisa, I know exactly when she's going to give up, and that's on her deathbed. Metaphorically I mean. We just found out she can't die."

Lisa shouted from the other side of the room, "I can die, trust me its painful every time. Hey, quick question, uh, what have we eaten today besides a granola bar?"

Shannon laughed, "I don't think we've eaten anything all day."

"You're kidding! I mean I can understand me not knowing I didn't eat anything, but-" I interrupted Nico.

"Choose your next words very wisely Nico."

"Uh, never mind... Do you guys want some food?" he asked. Nico really needs to watch what he says.

"I'll go get the food this time Nico. Last time, we had to pack up camp by ourselves." I started to walk out the door when I thought I heard Nico trying to follow me. "And you really shouldn't follow me Nico, I know what you all will eat."

I thought I heard him say, "you are good," before I shut the door.

I turned and said, "Yes, and you really shouldn't mutter things under your breathe unless you want me hear them." As I walked out the door I swear I saw him blushing furiously. I walked out the door and headed down to the lobby. I headed up to the food bar. I put together a salad for Lisa, and grabbed some grilled chicken sandwiches for Nico, Shannon, and myself. It happens to be all of our favorites. I walked into the room to find Shannon and Lisa giggling in a corner, and Nico clutching his head and hid in the opposite corner.

I walked over to Lisa and Shannon, and asked, "Salad and chicken sandwich take it or leave it." They started giggling gain. "Stop that, its giving me a headache." Their giggling burst into full out laughter. I sighed and walked over to Nico.

"I can't stand it. Too happy!" He was trying to crack a joke, not funny Nico.

"Hey, they're my friends. And maybe you should eat your favorite... A grilled chicken sandwich," I taunted. He sat up straight like a begging puppy. I rolled my eyes and tossed him the sandwich. I walked over to the small fire burning, and broke off a part of my sandwich and threw it in. A piece came in behind me and I looked behind me to see Nico smirking.

"You're not the only one with good aim," he taunted. I stuck my tongue out at him, and he said, "real mature," I took a seat next to him.

"Its not whether I'm mature, more of, if I'm sane," I countered. I swear he smiled for a split second.

He replied, "Did you really want an answer to that?" Evil.

"No she doesn't," Lisa yelled from across the room.

I yelled back, "Do you mind? We're trying to have a conversation over here!"

"Hey, does this mean that you're roman?" Shannon across the room.

I responded, "Ok, totally off topic and yeah, I'm pretty sure Percy's greek and I'm roman. I meant that as a classification, not an insult." I added the last part because I had a feeling that was normally an insult, like when people say someone's black or white. It can be a classification or an insult.

"Just as long as you don't get to cocky," Lisa added. I stuck my tongue out at her too.

"And if you call me a graceus, I swear that I will make you apologize if its meant as an insult." Nico, never force someone to apologize.

"So that must be why you warmed right up to Jason, Hazel, and Frank!" Shannon exclaimed.

I quickly retorted, "I noticed you and Leo seemed to be very close." She blushed a crimson red.

"Yeah, I don't get it. You could barely stand it when Andy was overheating, but you're totally fine around Leo, who can stinking burst into flames at will!" Lisa was almost ready to make me laugh.

"I think we should get a little sleep. We can continue this discussion in the morning." I walked over to the twin bed that had my stuff on it, as did Nico and Lisa. Shannon was already on her bed.

Lisa yelled, "I got the lights!" She snapped and the room went dark. I could hear someone chuckling, and I assumed it was Lisa.

"Nice!" I swear I heard Shannon mutter. With that, everything was blocked out, and I fell into a frightful dream.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey! I'm back with another update. I may not update for a little while after this because mine and my sister's computers have broken down so often and my mom's reported it every time, that they've stopped selling the computers. Yeah, I cause the samsung chromebook shutdown, sorry! And, its tech week for my school play, so I'm really busy. Anyways, I have a message to one of my 8 reviews. Yea! I got 8 reviews!**

**Here's your reply OMG: Don't worry I'm not stalking you. Just because you happen to share a name with one of my character's and your friends name is Nico does not mean I am a weirdo and a stalker (but I do stalk some people JK!).**

**Other Messages:**

**Happy Birthday! To my friend who was mentioned earlier and to my other friend whose birthday is tomorrow and you two are like best friend so that's kind of funny.**

**I really am super sorry about them stopping selling chromebooks. And they aren't that wear and tear friendly either.**

**On with the story!**

**Chapter 14 **

It was deadly hot, for any normal person. I could hear screeching and screaming all around me. I saw a man in the distance, pushing a rock up a hill, and another man, being boiled in cheese fondue. Next to me, I saw a woman listening to opera music. The music was kind of pretty, but the woman looked like she was going to rip someone's head off. I spun to see a built guy speaking to a guy who was steaming. Behind them, a harpy was walking on top of glowing coals. I moved my dream closer, so I could hear them, The screams started to fade out, and I could hear the harpy's whimperings. As I got closer, I realized the built man had a tinge of blue on his skin (for some reason, thats how I picture Krios, god of strength). He was obviously a god.

The blue skinned man said, "I know you have the information. Now, how can I make a demigod's power not affect me?" Ah, he was worried about us. Well, if this really has anything to do with our quest.

"It will cost you a price... but, no, you'd never be able to do it." Greedy pig. Well, I'd assume, just like I assumed I was in the fields of punishment. I was sure that when I died, I never wanted to end up here.

The god grabbed the man and said, "I am the great god Krios! Once I have these puny demigods out of the way, there will be nothing I can't do!"

"Good," the man responded. "I'll tell you what you want to know, if you swear on the river Styx, that when you're demigods are done for, I get sent to Elysium. I want to be with the rest of my family. Just because I died in the second titan war and served with the titans, and not with my family, does not mean i deserve this. I curse that stupid son of Hades. Kronos should have killed him not me, I understand that now. I took pity on a sweet little boy. The enemy is the enemy, no matter if their 11 or 16." I saw now, that the man was not a man at all. He was a kid, about 16 or 17.

"Alright, its a deal. Now, tell me what I want to know, and just so you know, that son of Hades is one of the demigods I'm trying to defeat. He has more power than he knows, and soon that darned sea spawn will figure it out. They'll make an unbeatable pair. Now, tell me!"

"This only works if the demigods are thinking negatively, but here you go. You must gain something personal from the demigod, then melt it, and turn it into something you can wear. Choose wisely, because it must be an item from the demigod world, like a dagger. And it must be something the demigod owns, not has given to someone else." Krios was deep in thought. The guy was smirking, as if proud of himself for betraying fellow demigods, or I assumed he was a demigod.

"Good, come Carlton. We must go and protect ourselves!" The harpy hopped off the coals. Krios pushed the man onto the coals.

"My name is Clara!" the harpy protested, but Krios let out an evil laugh and walked off.

I woke up sweating again. That was a freaky dream. I sat up. It looked like I was thrashing around. Nico was staring at me from across the room. He was soaking wet. There was concern in his eyes.

"What's up and why were you watching me sleep?" I asked. He looked mortally embarrassed.

Nico started, "I, uh... Well you were thrashing around a lot and I was kind of scared to wake you up because, well, I once tried to wake up Percy. Lets just say that didn't go well."

"So, why were you watching me sleep? That didn't really answer either of my questions."

"Deal with it."

"Hey, where are Shannon and Lisa?"

"Shannon wanted to get breakfast and Lisa went to talk to Cheryl."

"Who's Cheryl?"

"The lady at the front desk."

"Oh," well I felt dumb. "So, why were you watching me sleep, and just so you know, I really am getting sick of asking this question?"

"No," he threw me my pack, "Now go and change in the bathroom."

"Well I'm not gonna change out here," I joked. I went to the bathroom and grabbed the top stupid Aphrodite cabin outfit (ok this is weird cuz I'm watching an old TV show called Xena and this is an episode all about Aphrodite)! I came out to find Nico, Shannon, and Lisa arguing about something. "Shut up! Now, will someone please tell me whats up and then I can tell you about my dream, unless you'd rather wait here for more monsters to find us?"

"This is just pointless Nico! Lets just get out of here and then you guys can argue about who's older and more powerful and all that." Shannon concluded their fight. "Besides, this is my quest, and I call the shots. Not the oldest, not the most powerful, and not the one with the father who rules the freaking underworld! Am I clear?"

Nico said, "Dang, love can be pretty scary sometimes. Has anyone else realized that we have a pretty bizarre group?"

"Random," Lisa commented in a sing song voice.

"Nah, I'm serious. We've got death, sea, love, and, well, what element would you say you represent?" Nico, my silent warning! I know Lisa, and she will not hesitate for revenge. She thought for a minute before something really strange happened. Nico was on the ground faster than a blink, and Lisa had her forearm against his neck.

"I guess you could say I'm pretty speedy, but thats an understatement. How do you think we got to Richmond so fast?" Oh, Lisa sped up our trip, that makes a lot of sense now. Nico coughed as she removed her elbow, got up, and hoisted Nico onto his feet.

"That explains a lot, like how one minute you're speaking with someone outside my window, and the next you're knocking on the door." Shannon, that was weird.

"Yeah, now, how are we gonna get out of here?" Lisa responded.

"Divide and-" Nico started.

"Conquer, I know. You wouldn't believe how many times Julias said that a day. Stupid man, but great tactician," Lisa finished. She continued, "We need two distractions and two to break through. We stick in pairs, no one goes alone. I vote that Andy and I should be the distraction because we're the fastest runners. Wait, you can still run fast, right?" I nodded. "Good. I can help speed you up, but just a warning, this is going to be really dangerous. Nico you start head on, and Shannon, you start shooting arrows from the roof."

I had an idea, "Wait, can't we shadow travel out?"

Lisa smacked her forehead. "Wow! I'm so stupid! Nico, can you do it?"

"That's a way better idea and maybe. It depends on how far you want to travel. Uh, last summer I was able to transport 8 people about 50 meters. But, that was with my sister's help. I would only shadow travel us about 50 meters to be on the safe side." Nico was very nervous about this. "I don't want to take any chances, but this is the best we've got. I don't think I want to really risk hurting you all. So, we could probably get just past them but we'd have to run away really fast. Unless... Would you guys be OK with two jumps?"

"Is that safe for you?" I asked. I really didn't want Nico to be hurt.

"Probably not, jumping once, coming out, then being pulled into the shadows, definitely a challenge. I honestly have no idea if I'll pass out right after or what, but it's worth it. If we can get past the monsters then yeah, we should be good. Last summer, I transported the Athena Parthenos, Reyna, and myself to camp. I passed out pretty much every jump. I think I can get us the two jumps, but no more. You guys are gonna need to keep moving and get me out of there as well. I should be out for at least an hour. I can do it and get us out of here, but its you guys that are gonna have the hard part in this." He was trying to joke around, bad, bad, bad.

I asked, "How badly are you gonna get hurt?"

He sighed, "Most likely not at all. Just knocked out for an hour or so. Like I said, you'll have the hardest part." I guess that's alright if its the safest way for everyone.

There were murmurs of agreements from Lisa and I, but Shannon asked, "Are you sure? How are we even gonna move you?"

"It's the safest way and I can carry him," Lisa replied. I stared at her in disbelief. She was the scrawniest one in our group.

"That'll work." I looked at Nico quizzically. "Immortals are stronger than normal half-bloods, even if they're not gods," he explained.

"But how-" Shannon started.

Lisa cut her off, "Just trust me, alright? I've done a lot of heavy lifting in my time. Great wall of China, that was almost unbearable! I mean a block actually landed on me. Do you know what the Chinese do to their dead? Lets just say that was an unpleasant experience that I do to wish to repeat." I remembered somewhere reading that in ancient China, they beheaded their dead.

"Alright, lets go down to the lobby and get the Hades out of here," Nico covered for her. I had a feeling she didn't want to remember the experience either. We all grabbed our backpacks and headed down towards the lobby. Nico said, "grab hands," and we all got in a circle. I felt like I was being pulled through shadows. It was like being dragged through water, except thicker, and you're completely surrounded, though you can still breath, but you're wet. I could feel myself resurfacing, and then dragged back through. When we came back, I opened my eyes which I hadn't realized were closed. Nico was standing just fine, not unconscious, so I wondered what was happening.

"Nico..." Shannon started.

He shrugged, "I guess I'm getting better at this." We ran off towards the bus station we were near. At the desk, we found tickets for a bus that went all the way down to Atlanta, Georgia. We played another game of BS, and to everyone's surprise, I actually called every one of Lisa's bluffs. Shannon was a horrible liar and started giggling every time. After a couple months of spending time with Nico, I noticed that every time he lied, he would run his hand through his hair. This being, I won the game. Yeah! I actually won a card game.

After Lisa asked, "How the Hades did you do that?"

I thought for a minute, "Maybe some powers I really am allergic to. I mean, pretty much every time I called your bluffs I wanted to sneeze." She laughed.

We rode in silence on the rest of the way, with the occasional murmur from Shannon, who'd fallen asleep. I rested my head on Nico's shoulder and didn't realized I'd fallen into a dreamless sleep until I was awoken a little later, literally by a pinch. I slapped whoever did it and I heard Nico chuckle. I opened my eyes to see Shannon cradling her hand and Lisa holding back a laugh. Nico asked, "Sleep well? I'm pretty sure you're gonna be up all night." Oh, crap he's right. I lightly slapped him. Lisa couldn't hold it in anymore and I slapped her lightly too. Shannon was glaring at me because I slapped her the hardest.

"Yeah, well, I guess we know who's taking watch now! Where are we?" I saw plam trees going past.

"We're crossing the border into Florida," Nico told me.

"Just how long was I asleep?" I asked.

"Most of the day."

"Holy Hephaestus! Then why the Hades do I feel so drowsy?"

Lisa butted in, "Maybe you're sick or something." She felt my forehead and nodded. "Yeah, you've got a fever. Nico, how come you haven't noticed this?" He shrugged.

"I'm always cold. I can't really tell the difference." True, he was always really cold.

"I think I've got a thermometer somewhere." Lisa rummaged through her pack until she pulled out a thermometer. She pulled a probe cover over it and stuck it in my mouth. When she pulled it out, she and Shannon had worried expressions on their faces.

"What's wrong? I feel fine!" I chided.

Shannon shook her head, "Dude, you are so not fine. You got a fever of 111!"

"How did she..." Nico started, but let the question linger.

"Maybe she's got mono or something," Shannon suggested.

I kicked her shin, "Idiot!"

Lisa corrected me, "It can be as simple as accidentally grabbing the wrong coffee cup." I smacked her again.

"I'm not that dumb! Guys, it's just a tiny fever. I feel fine. We can deal with this after the quest." They looked reluctant, but finally agreed.

Shannon's was most interesting, "Fine. But if your brain fries don't come cryin' to me."

"It won't. Now, lets talk about our quest... Woah! How the Hades did we get here already?" We were already near Disney. Like, driving through the gates near.

Lisa spoke, "Like I said, I've been speeding up our trip, but it depletes my energy." She looked ready to pass out. We were driving in the gates now. You could see the castle off in the distance.

"How come the mortals don't notice this?" Shannon asked.

Lisa and Nico replied at the same time, "The Mist."

I asked, "What's mist?"

"The Mist is a kind of blanket, that covers the eyes of mortals. Its controlled by the goddess Hecate." Nico explained this to me.

"Nice." We entered the foyer kind of thing to the park. Nico got me past the barrier and Lisa got Shannon through by speeding through the line. There were two options for getting to the park.

Shannon asked, "Boat, or monorail?"

Nico said, "Monorail," at the same time I said, "Boat." I'd forgotten he was a child of Hades, so boats weren't a good idea. Then again, hurtling through the air on a single track wasn't a good idea either.

I calmly explained, "It's not like the boat's gonna sink. And in case you haven't forgotten, the monorail is 100 feet in the air at times and goes t like 50-60 miles an hour."

"Ok, lets do the boat then," he gave up. I honestly didn't expect that to come so easily. He gave me a playful glare. I guess I said that out loud, oops!

* * *

**Yo my peeps! Ok, I litterally just gave myself a stupid paper cut while posting this and I've bleed for 15 minutes straight and gone through 2 bandaids HAHA! Oh the irony but it hurts like Hades! Oh yeah, and please review!**


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